Aquatint
Aguatinta
- Date
- c. 1768 · confidence medium
- Place
- Paris, Île-de-France, France
- Credited to
- Jean-Baptiste Le Prince
- People
- 👤 Jean-Baptiste Le Prince1734–1781
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
An etching process that dusts resin over the plate and bites it with acid, creating areas of flat tone that imitate watercolour. It was combined with etching.
Isolated 17th-century precedents are cited; Le Prince kept the secret until 1774, when he sold it to Paul Sandby, who spread it in England.
What it led to
- continuous-tone prints, such as Goya's
- English landscape and watercolour engraving
- colour art reproduction