Etchings

In art history, etchings have had a huge impact, especially on printmaking. Etchings, recognized as fine art since the 15th century, have a history of challenging conventional thinking. Throughout history, various etching techniques have been employed by artists to achieve completely different effects. The medium has always been used as a means to push the boundaries of contemporary art, as evidenced by Albrecht Dürer's revolutionary Knight, Death, and the Devil as well as Francisco Goya's infamous War Disasters series. Explore and place your bids in our online auctions of original vintage and antique etchings for sale at Bidsquare.

Among the intaglio printing methods, etching, along with engraving, mezzotint, and aquatint, is thought to have originated from the decoration of metal armor in Northern Europe during the 15th century. As a printmaking medium, etching quickly rivaled engraving due to its relative simplicity. One of the oldest forms of illustration, etching involves engraving images on soft metal and then transferring them onto paper. It was the Swiss artist Urs Graf who created the first dated etching in 1513 using iron plates. At about the same time, five etchings were made by Albrecht Dürer, a prolific German graphic artist. With Albrecht Dürer, engraving reached its pinnacle with its precise and tapered lines. His "Cannon" depicts the spontaneity and flowing lines in etching that were not yet valued in northern Europe. Rembrandt was the first and perhaps greatest master of pure etching, who harnessed the similarity of the medium to pencil or pen drawing. The artist produced more than 300 etchings with remarkable skill, conveying light, air, and space with a sense of freedom inherent in the medium.

In the late nineteenth century, many printmakers experimented with color etchings. It was previously only possible to etch in black-and-white, so this explosion of color was something of a revolution in the etching medium. Printmakers with more experience and skill attempted color etchings first since it was technically complex and time-consuming. But as time passed, artists with less experience could also seek the assistance of printers like Eugène Delâtre.

Many artists used etching throughout the 19th century, and several prominent artists took up the technique with renewed enthusiasm in the 20th century. One of the most prominent of these is Pablo Picasso, whose Cubist ideas were first realized through etching, which he then utilized in his "classical" period to exploit its purity of line. David Hockney and Marc Chagall also created a great deal of work in this medium, as did Henri Matisse, Georges Rouault, Stanley Hayter, and Joan Miró.

Quick Facts about Etchings

• Each plate can only produce a limited number of prints because the plate wears down with each use. 
• As etchings are not mass-produced, they have an air of exclusivity that is not found in original art.