History Of Etching Engraving

In the beginning printmaking was not thought of as an art form. Instead it was treated as a form of communication. During the 18th century art prints were finally accepted as originals and by the 19th century the artists had begun to make prints using etching engravings.


You might be surprised to discover that engravings actually date back to the cave man. In fact they were a big part of cave art that was done on cave walls and stones.


If you go trace history back 3000 years you will discover that the Sumerian were engraving designs onto stone. It is also believed that the Chinese were doing a very primitive form of etching called a rubbing as early as the 2nd Century AD.


By the 6th century European's were doing textile printing but it wasn't until 1151 that paper printing occurred. The first wood cuts to paper were that of playing cards a rather unusual topic.


Just a few decades after the woodblock the metal engravings came to be. They certainly refined the way things worked. Originally only armorers and goldsmiths were able to work with them becoming the most popular form of reproduction.


By the 17th Century more and more portrait and ornamental wok was being reproduced in Europe. Van Dyck was instrumental during this period moving forward into intaglio work.


However Italy was still producing most of its reproductions with etchings. In fact it was now the leader in etching productions. And in the Netherlands Rembrandt himself had more than 300 plates. Now that was impressive.


Engraving continued to play an important role around the world. In fact some artists were using it to stretch the reproductions to new limits. The result was some unusual reproduction techniques that took the world by storm.


Printmaking continued to develop with etching techniques improving continuously. In fact today engraving is still a common method of reproducing some types of original art works.


Today there are all kinds of methods used to reproduce originals but the highest quality of reproduction still remains with the etching engraving process. It quickly becomes apparent that as a civilization we are smart enough to keep a process that works well.

About The Author:
Christoper is an engraving for last 20 years. come to http://www.theengraving.com to get free advice and tips on different types of engravingtechniques