Intaglio engraving on copper plate called " line engraving " appears simultaneously in Germany and Italy around 1450.     

A.-D. Steinlen in Francine et Jean Cappelle's workshop.

Its technique today is nearly the same as it was then. The press is still composed of two superposed rolls which send the paper between them to catch the ink in the furrows engraved on a copperplate under a pression of about a ton.

Processes

     The principal process of entaglio engravings are the burin, the etching, the dry point and the aquatinte.

The burin: with a sharp steel rod (the burin) the engraver carves the copper to a certain depth moving from back to front and scratches out metalic turnings. The deeper the furrow the darker the line when printed but it will always have a caracteristic sharpness.

Etching: with a steel point the engraver will draw his design scratching the copper, which is first covered with a coat of varnish, thus baring the metal. By immersing the plate in acid (etching) the scratched parts will be carved to a certain depth depending on the time they are immersed. The engravers normally make various tests before getting a proof to their liking.

The dry point: the engraver with a pencil-like steel point scratches his copperplate in a move opposite that used for the burin. The metal is not carved out but only pushed aside thus leaving jagged edges that some artist prefer to cut out partly. These jagged edges will give a characteristic blurred effect when printed.

Aquatinte: the artist puts ground resin on an already deeply etched copperplate which has been warmed up. The plate is then bathed again. The acid bites the metal wherever it is not protected. When printed the effect is softer than etching and similar to wash drawing by the delicacy of its background.

      Another process appeared in the XVII^th century, the " manière noire " or mezzotint. On a uniformly roughened plate the engraver flattens the points to varying degrees thus going from black to white via the whole range of greys giving a softness typical of this technique.
      From Dürer, Rembrandt, Piranèse… to Dali or Picasso, the greatest artists have brought these different technique to perfection.

Coloring

      For coloring two techniques are used : registering and dabbing.
The first one needs as many plates as colors.The copperplate printer covers the plate inked by a roller with a moistened sheet of paper. The plate has an hole on the top and another at the botton of the design. The engraving is precisely centred thanks to four needles pinned on the register marks. The paper and the engraving pass between the rolls of the press for printing. The same sheet pinned at the same points on each plate will pass on as many plates as there are colors in the engraving.

      In the second technique, all colors are printed at the same time. Colors are dabbed by the copperplate printer (thanks to a piece of material tightly rolled on itself ending with a point: the dabb). The surplus of ink over the unengraved parts is removed by wiping the plate with the palm the " paumage ".
     Putting on the copperplate a moistened sheet to make it ink receptive (we say in French that paper is then " in love with ink "), the craftsman passes both between the rolls of the press to have the paper fetch the ink in the carvings of the plate.
      The plate is then cleaned and the copperplate printer repeats the process till he reaches the number of numbered prints required.

From l. to r. Bruno Varacka, Hélène Nué and Jean Cappelle in the workshop.