Editing Printmaking (section)

=== Etching ===
{{main|Etching}}
[[File:Saint Jerome in his Study LACMA M.2012.31 (1 of 2).jpg|thumb|left|Albrecht Dürer, ''Saint Jerome in his Study'', 1514.]]
<div style="width:35%; float: right; margin: 10px; padding: 8px; border: 1px solid #8888aa;">Artists using this technique include
[[Albrecht Dürer]],
[[Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn|Rembrandt]],
[[Francisco Goya]],
[[Wenceslaus Hollar]],
[[James Abbott McNeill Whistler|Whistler]],
[[Otto Dix]],
[[James Ensor]],
[[Edward Hopper]],
[[Käthe Kollwitz]],
[[Pablo Picasso]],
[[Cy Twombly]],
[[Lucas van Leyden]]
</div>
 
[[File:Rembrandt The Hundred Guilder Print.jpg|thumb|right|[[Rembrandt]], ''Christ Preaching'', ''([[Hundred Guilder Print|The Hundred Guilder print]])''; etching {{Circa|1648}}]]
'''Etching''' is part of the [[intaglio (printmaking)|intaglio]] family. In pure etching, a metal plate (usually copper, zinc, or steel) is covered with a waxy or acrylic [[ground (etching)|ground]]. The artist then draws through the ground with a pointed etching needle, exposing the metal. The plate is then etched by dipping it in a bath of etchant (e.g. [[nitric acid]] or [[ferric chloride]]). The etchant "bites" into the exposed metal, leaving behind lines in the plate. The remaining ground is then cleaned off the plate, and the printing process is then just the same as for [[engraving]].

Although the first dated etching is by [[Albrecht Dürer]] in 1515, the process is believed to have been invented by [[Daniel Hopfer]] ({{Circa|1470&ndash;1536}}) of Augsburg, Germany, who decorated armor in this way, and applied the method to printmaking.<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),"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200308163224/https://artinprint.org/article/freedom-and-resistance-in-the-act-of-engraving-or-why-durer-gave-up-on-etching/ |date=2020-03-08 }} ''Art in Print'' Vol. 7 No. 3 (September–October 2017), 17.</ref> Etching soon came to challenge engraving as the most popular printmaking medium. Its great advantage was that, unlike engraving which requires special skill in metalworking, etching is relatively easy to learn for an artist trained in drawing.

Etching prints are generally linear and often contain fine detail and contours. [[Line art|Lines]] can vary from smooth to sketchy. An etching is opposite of a woodcut in that the raised portions of an etching remain blank while the crevices hold ink.

A non-toxic form of etching that does not involve an acid is [[Electroetching]].