Editing Etching (section)

==History==
===Origin===
[[File:British Museum Middle East 14022019 Gold and carnelian beads 2600-2300 BC Royal cemetery of Ur (composite).jpg|thumb|The [[etched carnelian beads]] in this necklace from the [[Royal Cemetery of Ur]] dating to the [[First Dynasty of Ur]] (2600-2500 BCE) were probably imported from the [[Indus Valley]].<ref name="BM Carnelian">British Museum notice: "Gold and carnelians beads. The two beads etched with patterns in white were probably imported from the Indus Valley. They were made by a technique developed by the Harappan civilization" [[:File:Ur Grave gold and carnelian beads necklace.jpg|Photograph of the necklace in question]]</ref>]]

====Etching in antiquity====
{{Main|Etched carnelian beads}}
Etching was already used in antiquity for decorative purposes. [[Etched carnelian beads]] are a type of ancient decorative beads made from [[carnelian]] with an etched design in white, which were probably manufactured by the [[Indus Valley civilization]] during the 3rd millennium BCE. They were made according to a technique of alkaline etching developed by the [[Harappa]]ns, and vast quantities of these beads were found in the archaeological sites of the Indus Valley civilization.<ref>For the etching technique, see {{cite journal |last1=MacKay |first1=Ernest |title=Sumerian Connexions with Ancient India |journal=The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland |issue=4 |date=1925 |pages=699 |jstor=25220818 }}</ref><ref name="BM Carnelian"/><ref name="FeniXX réédition numérique">{{cite book |last1=Guimet |first1=Musée |title=Les Cités oubliées de l'Indus: Archéologie du Pakistan |date=2016 |publisher=FeniXX réédition numérique |isbn=9782402052467 |page=355 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-HpYDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA355 |language=fr}}</ref> They are considered as an important marker of ancient trade between the [[Indus Valley]], [[Mesopotamia]] and even [[Ancient Egypt]], as these precious and unique manufactured items circulated in great numbers between these geographical areas during the 3rd millennium BCE, and have been found in numerous tomb deposits.<ref name="AFC">{{cite book |title=Art of the first cities : the third millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus. |date=2003 |publisher=The Metropolitan Museum of Art |pages=395–396 |url=https://archive.org/details/ArtOfTheFirstCitiesTheThirdMillenniumB.C.FromTheMediterraneanToTheIndusEditedByJ/page/n419/mode/2up |language=en}}</ref> Sumerian kings, such as [[Shulgi]] {{Circa|2000 BCE}}, also created etched carnelian beads for dedication purposes.<ref name="MCI">{{cite book |last1=McIntosh |first1=Jane |title=The Ancient Indus Valley: New Perspectives |date=2008 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-57607-907-2 |page=185 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1AJO2A-CbccC&pg=PA185 |language=en}}</ref>

====Early etching====
{{Main|Old master print}}
Etching by [[goldsmith]]s and other metal-workers in order to decorate metal items such as guns, armour, cups and plates has been known in Europe since the [[Middle Ages]] at least, and may go back to antiquity. The elaborate decoration of armour, in Germany at least, was an art probably imported from Italy around the end of the 15th century—little earlier than the birth of etching as a printmaking technique. Printmakers from the German-speaking lands and Central Europe perfected the art and transmitted their skills over the Alps and across Europe. [[File:Wenzel Hollar nach Jan Meyssens.jpg|thumb|Self-portrait etched by Wenceslaus Hollar]]

[[File:BM engraved printing plates.jpg|thumb|Selection of early etched printing plates from the [[British Museum]]]]

The process as applied to printmaking is believed to have been invented by [[Daniel Hopfer]] ({{circa|1470}}–1536) of Augsburg, Germany. Hopfer was a craftsman who decorated armour in this way, and applied the method to printmaking, using iron plates (many of which still exist). Apart from his prints, there are two proven examples of his work on armour: a shield from 1536 now in the Real Armeria of Madrid and a sword in the [[Germanisches Nationalmuseum]] of Nuremberg. An Augsburg horse armour in the [[German Historical Museum]], [[Berlin]], dating to between 1512 and 1515, is decorated with motifs from Hopfer's etchings and [[woodcut]]s, but this is no evidence that Hopfer himself worked on it, as his decorative prints were largely produced as patterns for other craftsmen in various media. The oldest dated etching is by [[Albrecht Dürer]] in 1515, although he returned to engraving after six etchings instead of developing the craft.<ref>Cohen, Brian D. [http://artinprint.org/article/freedom-and-resistance-in-the-act-of-engraving-or-why-durer-gave-up-on-etching/ "Freedom and Resistance in the Act of Engraving (or, Why Dürer Gave up on Etching),"] ''Art in Print'' Vol. 7 No. 3 (September–October 2017), 17.</ref>

The switch to copper plates was probably made in Italy,<ref>the Italian term is {{lang|it|acquaforte}}, still occasionally used as a synonym for "etching" in English</ref> and thereafter etching soon came to challenge [[engraving]] as the most popular medium for artists in [[printmaking]]. Its great advantage was that, unlike engraving where the difficult technique for using the [[Burin (engraving)|burin]] requires special skill in metalworking, the basic technique for creating the image on the plate in etching is relatively easy to learn for an artist trained in drawing.  On the other hand, the handling of the ground and acid need skill and experience, and are not without health and safety risks, as well as the risk of a ruined plate.

===Callot's innovations: échoppe, hard ground, stopping-out===
[[Jacques Callot]] (1592–1635) from [[Nancy, France|Nancy]] in [[Duchy of Lorraine|Lorraine]] (now part of France) made important technical advances in etching technique.
[[File:Gardener with a Basket on her Arm, from Hortulanae series MET MM10514.jpg|thumb|right|Etching by [[Jacques Bellange]], ''Gardener with basket'' {{circa|1612}}]]

Callot also appears to have been responsible for an improved, harder, recipe for the etching ground, using [[lute]]-makers' varnish rather than a wax-based formula. This enabled lines to be more deeply bitten, prolonging the life of the plate in printing, and also greatly reducing the risk of "foul-biting", where acid gets through the ground to the plate where it is not intended to, producing spots or blotches on the image. Previously the risk of foul-biting had always been at the back of an etcher's mind, preventing too much time on a single plate that risked being ruined in the biting process. Now etchers could do the highly detailed work that was previously the monopoly of engravers, and Callot made full use of the new possibilities.

Callot also made more extensive and sophisticated use of multiple "stoppings-out" than previous etchers had done. This is the technique of letting the acid bite lightly over the whole plate, then stopping-out those parts of the work which the artist wishes to keep light in tone by covering them with ground before bathing the plate in acid again. He achieved unprecedented subtlety in effects of distance and light and shade by careful control of this process. Most of his prints were relatively small—up to about six inches or 15&nbsp;cm on their longest dimension, but packed with detail.

One of his followers, the Parisian [[Abraham Bosse]], spread Callot's innovations all over Europe with the first published manual of etching, which was translated into Italian, Dutch, German and English.

The 17th century was the great age of etching, with [[Rembrandt]], [[Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione]] and many other masters. In the 18th century, [[Giovanni Battista Piranesi|Piranesi]], [[Giovanni Battista Tiepolo|Tiepolo]] and [[Daniel Chodowiecki]] were the best of a smaller number of fine etchers. In the 19th and early 20th century, the [[Etching revival]] produced a host of lesser artists, but no really major figures. Etching is still widely practiced today.