Etching
Aguafuerte
- Date
- c. 1515 · confidence medium
- Place
- Augsburg, Germany
- Credited to
- Daniel Hopfer; the first dated example by Urs Graf (1513), popularised by Dürer
- People
- 👤 Daniel Hopfer1470–1536
- Field
- Communication
What it is
An engraving technique in which acid, rather than the burin, bites the lines drawn on a protective varnish coating a metal plate. It made printmaking accessible to any draughtsman, without the skill of a goldsmith.
It derives from the acid decoration of armour practised by Augsburg armourers.
What it led to
- The democratisation of printmaking among painters (Rembrandt, Callot)
- The mass reproduction of current-affairs images and religious propaganda
- The technical basis of photoengraving in the 19th century
Built on
- Mineral acids and aqua regiac. 1300
- Copperplate engravingc. 1430-1450
- Acid-etched armour decoration
Made possible
- Aquatintc. 1768
- Reportage print engraving
- Photoengraving