In the print family, I would like ..... an engraving

Definition

The engraving method as explained below is the printing of a drawing engraved on a copper plate.

Historical

The copperplate engraving for printing, started in Germany in the middle of the fifteenth century, found itself at its best with the works of Albrecht Dürer. Over the ages, a lot of great artists were interested by this technique, for example Rembrandt, Goya or Picasso.

The works proposed here, were made with the same "savoir-faire". Jean-Pierre David respects the traditions of engraving as they existed in the mid fifteenth century. Nowadays, this method is still used to make authentic works of art.

Now to techniques

This method consists in making incisions in the copper plate.
We use a bevelled cutting tool to pull a piece of metal from the plate which has a chip form.
With the etching technique, the tool is replaced by an acid. The acid digs into the metal whoever there is no varnish protector.


When the plate is engraved, we go on to the printing step

We put ink on the plate, then we wipe it out so that only the incisions are fully inked. The picture is printed on a wet paper with strong pressure. We get the same drawing that is in the plate but reversed (like a mirror). All those steps are made by hand and repeated for each print.

Prints are limited. In the bottom left of the picture, the print number and the total number of copies can be found. On the right, we can see the artist's signature which guarantees the authenticity of the work and the respect of the publishing rules. When all the copies are printed, the plate is made unusable by engraving a line across it being symbolicaly destroyed.

To recognise an authentic engraving from industrial copies, we must see a clear mark made by the thickness of the plate on the paper. This mark is called "cuvette" (it means a small depression in the rectangular-shaped paper, which is the shape and form of the copper plate).

A real print can be a gift of value or an original work which, nonetheless, is available at reasonable price.

Contact
back