INTAGLIO PRINTING

The Intaglio Printers,1642 by Abraham Bosse (French, Tours 1602/04–1676 Paris) Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1926

The discovery of intaglio engraving is traditionally credited to Maso Finiguerra, a Florentine goldsmith from the 15th century. Finiguerra's craft involved creating 'nielli'—silver plates engraved with a design and filled with a black metal alloy called 'nigellium.' While the niello's original purpose was to create a black-on-silver design, Finiguerra's accidental press of a niello plate onto paper is said to have produced the very first intaglio print. In modern practice, the marks on the metal plate are made either directly with tools like a burin or drypoint needle, or indirectly using acid.