Scribd
Upload
83 views17 pages

Intaglio (Printmaking) - Wikipedia

Intaglio is a printmaking technique where designs are incised into a surface. The plate is covered in ink, which is wiped off everywhere except in the incised lines. Paper is placed on top and pressed into the lines, transferring the ink from the plate onto the paper. Intaglio emerged in Europe in the 15th century and was used for banknotes, books, and magazines. Today it is mainly used for currency, passports, and high-value stamps due to its ability to produce detailed images that are difficult to counterfeit.

Uploaded by

LKMs HUB
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
83 views17 pages

Intaglio (Printmaking) - Wikipedia

Intaglio is a printmaking technique where designs are incised into a surface. The plate is covered in ink, which is wiped off everywhere except in the incised lines. Paper is placed on top and pressed into the lines, transferring the ink from the plate onto the paper. Intaglio emerged in Europe in the 15th century and was used for banknotes, books, and magazines. Today it is mainly used for currency, passports, and high-value stamps due to its ability to produce detailed images that are difficult to counterfeit.

Uploaded by

LKMs HUB
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 17

Intaglio

(printmaking)

This article needs additional citations for


verification.
Learn more

Depressions are cut into a printing plate. The plate


shown here is not to scale: the grooves can be less
than a millimeter wide.

The plate is covered in ink.


The plate is covered in ink.

The ink is wiped off the surface of the plate, but


remains in the grooves.

Paper is placed on the plate and compressed, such


as by a heavy roller.

The paper is removed, and the ink has been


transferred from the plate to the paper.

Micro-topography of an ordinary French post stamp


(detail) showing the thickness of ink obtained by
intaglio. The words "la Poste" appeared in white on

red background and hence corresponds to areas


with a lack of ink.
with a lack of ink.

Banknote portrait pattern made with intaglio


printing. Denomination: 1000 Hungarian forint.
Depicted area: 18.1 x 13.5 mm.

Intaglio (/ɪnˈtæli.oʊ/ in-TAL-ee-oh;


Italian: [inˈtaʎʎo]) is the family of printing
and printmaking techniques in which the
image is incised into a surface and the
incised line or sunken area holds the
ink.[1] It is the direct opposite of a relief
print.
Normally, copper or zinc plates are used
as a surface or matrix, and the incisions
are created by etching, engraving,
drypoint, aquatint or mezzotint.[2]
Collagraphs may also be printed as
intaglio plates.[3]

Process
In intaglio printing, the lines to be printed
are cut into a metal plate by means either
of a cutting tool called a burin, held in the
hand – in which case the process is
called engraving; or through the corrosive
action of acid – in which case the
process is known as etching.[4] In
etching, for example, the plate is covered
in a resin ground or an acid-resistant wax
material. Using an etching needle, or a
similar tool, the image is engraved into
the ground, revealing the plate
underneath. The plate is then dipped into
acid. The acid bites into the surface of
the plate where it was exposed. Biting is
a printmaking term to describe the acid's
etching, or incising, of the image.[5] After
the plate is sufficiently bitten, the plate is
removed from the acid bath, and the
ground is removed to prepare for the next
step in printing.[6]

To print an intaglio plate, ink is applied to


the surface by wiping and/or dabbing the
plate to push the ink into the recessed
lines, or grooves. The plate is then
rubbed with tarlatan cloth to remove
most of the excess ink. The final smooth
wipe is often done with newspaper or old
public phone book pages, leaving ink only
in the incisions. A damp piece of paper is
placed on top of the plate, so that when
going through the press the damp paper
will be able to be squeezed into the
plate's ink-filled grooves.The paper and
plate are then covered by a thick blanket
to ensure even pressure when going
through the rolling press. The rolling
press applies very high pressure through
the blanket to push the paper into the
grooves on the plate.[7] The blanket is
then lifted, revealing the paper and
printed image.

Brief history
Intaglio printmaking emerged in Europe
well after the woodcut print, with the
earliest known surviving examples being
undated designs for playing cards made
in Germany, using drypoint technique,
probably in the late 1430s.[8] Engraving
had been used by goldsmiths to decorate
metalwork, including armor, musical
instruments and religious objects since
ancient times, and the niello technique,
which involved rubbing an alloy into the
lines to give a contrasting color, also
goes back to late antiquity. Scholars and
practitioners of printmaking have
suggested that the idea of making prints
from engraved plates may well have
originated with goldsmiths' practices of
taking an impression on paper of a
design engraved on an object, in order to
keep a record of their work, or to check
the quality.[9][10][8]

Martin Schongauer was one of the


earliest known artists to exploit the
copper-engraving technique, and
Albrecht Dürer is one of the most famous
intaglio artists. Italian and Dutch
engraving began slightly after the
Germans, but were well developed by
1500. Drypoint and etching were also
German inventions of the fifteenth
century, probably by the Housebook
Master and Daniel Hopfer respectively.

In the nineteenth century, Viennese


printer Karel Klíč introduced a combined
intaglio and photographic process.
Photogravure retained the smooth
continuous tones of photography but
was printed using a chemically-etched
copper plate. This permitted a
photographic image to be printed on
regular paper, for inclusion in books or
albums.[11]

In the 1940s and 1950s the Italian


security printer Gualtiero Giori brought
intaglio printing into the era of high-
technology by developing the first ever
six-colour intaglio printing press,
designed to print banknotes which
combined more artistic possibilities with
greater security.[12]

Current use
At one time intaglio printing was used for
all mass-printed materials including
banknotes, stock certificates,
newspapers, books, maps and
magazines, fabrics, wallpapers and sheet
music. Today intaglio engraving is largely
used for paper or plastic currency,
banknotes, passports and occasionally
for high-value postage stamps. The
appearance of engraving is sometimes
mimicked for items such as wedding
invitations by producing an embossment
around lettering printed by another
process (such as lithography or offset) to
suggest the edges of an engraving plate.

Famous intaglio artists


William Blake
Albrecht Dürer
M. C. Escher
Helen Frank
Francisco Goya
Stanley William Hayter
Edward Hopper
Max Klinger
Käthe Kollwitz
Mauricio Lasansky
Martin Lewis
Lucas van Leyden
Cheryl Anne Lorance
Gabor Peterdi
Pablo Picasso
Anton Pieck
Krishna Reddy
Rembrandt
Ludwig von Siegen
James Abbott McNeill Whistler
William Kentridge
Diane Victor

See also
Photogravure, an intaglio photo-
printmaking process
Rotogravure
Line engraving
Viscosity printing
History of printing

References
1. Strauss, Victor (1967). The printing
industry: an introduction to its many
branches, processes, and products.
Washington: Printing Industries of
America. ISBN 0835202720.
2. Mustalish, Rachel (2003). "Printmaking
Techniques of the WPA Printmakers". In
Lisa Mintz Messinger. African American
Artists, 1929–1945: Prints, Drawings and
Paintings in the Metropolitan of Museum
of Art (Metropolitan Museum of Art). Yale
University Press. pp. 86–88.
ISBN 0300098774.
3. Mueller White, Lucy (2002). "Intaglio
Processes". Printmaking as Therapy:
Frameworks for Freedom. Jessica
Kingsley. pp. 108–109. ISBN 1843107082.
4. Ellis, Margaret Holben (1987). The Care
of Prints and Drawings. Nashville: The
American Association for State and Local
History, 1987. p. 64.
5. "Glossary – Magical-Secrets: A
Printmaking Community" . magical-
secrets.com. Retrieved 5 June 2016.
6. "Intaglio Printmaking – artelino" .
artelino.com. Retrieved 5 June 2016.
7. "intaglio – printing" . britannica.com.
Retrieved 5 June 2016.
8. Harrison, Charles (2006). "The printed
picture in the Renaissance." In Kim Woods
(Ed.), Making Renaissance Art. New
Haven: Yale University Press. p. 219.
9. Ross, John (1990). Complete
Printmaker . Revised and expanded
edition. New York: The Free Press. p. 65.
10. Griffiths, Antony (1996). Prints and
Printmaking: An introduction to the
history and techniques . Berkeley and Los
Angeles: University of California Press. p.
39.
11. "Photogravure" . Notes on
Photographs. George Eastman House.
Retrieved 24 October 2015.
12. K. M. M. de Leeuw, Jan Bergstra, The
History of Information Security: a
Comprehensive Handbook (2007), p. 214

External links
Look up intaglio in Wiktionary, the free
dictionary.
Wikimedia Commons has media related
to Intaglio (printmaking).

Retrieved from
"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Intaglio_(printmaking)&oldid=879365256"

Last edited 15 days ago by J Milbu…

Content is available under CC BY-SA 3.0 unless


otherwise noted.

You might also like