Etching

Object Type
This print is an etching, produced by biting lines in a metal plate with acid to hold ink. The lines on the plate are filled with ink which is then printed onto paper.

Subjects Depicted
The printmaker Hubert Gravelot (1699-1773) made this etching look like a page from his sketchbook. He has achieved this by filling almost every inch of surface with a variety of unrelated subjects, drawn to different scales. This makes it look as though he had sketched them haphazardly as he came across them. Because this is a print, not a drawing, it is clear that the whole effect was carefully contrived.

The subjects reflect Gravelot's many talents as a designer, illustrator and occasional figurative painter. They include a full-length figure of a hunter taking aim, a gun-dog going after a bird, and heads and profiles of men, women and children. In the lower right-hand corner, is a design for an 'etui', a small box for items such as needles, scissors and thimble, which was carried in the pocket, or hung on a chain from the waist.

Materials & Making
Some of the lines in this etching are lighter than others. This mimics the different intensity of the lines in a drawing. To achieve this effect in an etching, Gravelot had to use a process called 'stopping out'. Some lines on the copper printing plate were made quite shallow and so held little ink, while others were exposed to the acid for longer, became deeper to hold more ink, and so printed darker as a result.