Intaglio (printmaking)

Intaglio is the family of <a href="/facts/Printing/ta4QpeDE">printing</a> and <a href="/facts/Printmaking/9maDzuae">printmaking</a> techniques in which the image is incised into a surface and the incised line or sunken area holds the ink. It is the direct opposite of a <a href="/facts/Relief_print/g6q2ELaS">relief print</a> where the parts of the matrix that make the image stand above the main surface.
Normally <a href="/facts/Copper/I8PEE8oX">copper</a>, or in recent times <a href="/facts/Zinc/80b1qgk3">zinc</a>, sheets called plates are used as a surface or matrix, and the incisions are created by <a href="/facts/Etching/PM0FmoSb">etching</a>, <a href="/facts/Engraving/0hCX4flU">engraving</a>, <a href="/facts/Drypoint/gFwYJyjg">drypoint</a>, <a href="/facts/Aquatint/1tQdocJy">aquatint</a> or <a href="/facts/Mezzotint/NQBtXg0U">mezzotint</a>, often in combination. <a href="/facts/Collography/XBW1kQXs">Collagraphs</a> may also be printed as intaglio plates.
After the decline of the main relief technique of <a href="/facts/Woodcut/fg45gSl6">woodcut</a> around 1550, the intaglio techniques dominated both <a href="/facts/Old_master_print/7mTEMQVX">artistic printmaking</a> as well as most types of <a href="/facts/Illustration/dIDdBnUo">illustration</a> and <a href="/facts/Popular_print/PLq04c25">popular prints</a> until the mid 19th century.
The word "intaglio" describes prints created from plates where the ink-bearing regions are recessed beneath the plate's surface. Though brass, zinc, and other materials are occasionally utilized, copper is the most common material for the plates.

Intaglio (printmaking) open-in-new

Intaglio (printmaking)