Questions & Answers
Our trusted network of 1stDibs sellers answer common questions
What is the difference between drypoint and engraving?
1 Answer
The difference between drypoint and engraving is that these two types of prints involve different techniques. An engraving is a print made by incising lines into a metal plate with a sharp tool called a burin. After the image is drawn, the plate is inked, wiped clean, and then firmly pressed to paper so the ink remaining in the incised grooves is transferred. Considerable force is required to mark the metal, so the lines made by engraving tend to be stronger than those made through etching and characterized by gentle tapering. Light and shade have to be created through cross-hatching since the technique is line-based. Drypoint is similar to engraving in that an artist incises a metal plate with a sharp tool. As the metal is carved, metal shavings, also called the burr, build up in the grooves. But unlike with engraving, the burr is not cleaned away with drypoint, resulting in very soft, velvety lines. Since the burr slowly wears away with each printing, fewer impressions can be made, and the first impression tends to be stronger than the last, a characteristic that sets the technique apart from many other printing methods. Explore a selection of engravings and drypoint prints on 1stDibs.
1stDibs ExpertOctober 7, 2024
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Shop for Drypoint Prints and Multiples on 1stDibs
Tourelle, Rue de la Tixéranderie démolie en 1851
Located in Middletown, NY
Etching and drypoint on watermarked Hudelist laid paper, 9 5/8 x 5 inches (245 x 129mm) full margins. Second state (of five) after lettering. A superb condition with a pencil inscrip...
Category
Mid-19th Century French School Landscape Prints
Materials
Laid Paper, Etching, Drypoint
Hélène of Septeuil (enfant au perroquet) (child with a parakeet).
By Mary Cassatt
Located in Storrs, CT
Hélène of Septeuil (enfant au perroquet) (child with a parakeet). c. 1889-1890. Drypoint. Breeskin, 134.v. 9 3/8 x 6 1/4 (sheet 15 3/4 x 9 7/8). A rich impression with burr and plate...
Category
19th Century Impressionist Portrait Prints
Materials
Watercolor, Drypoint
$12,000 Sale Price
52% Off
Téléphone-homard cybernétique (Michler/Löpsinger 822-831; Field 75-13)
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Salvador Dali (1904-1989)
Title: Téléphone-homard cybernétique (Michler/Löpsinger 822-831; Field 75-13), Imaginations et Objets du Futur (Cybernetic lobster phone, Imaginatio...
Category
1970s Surrealist Landscape Prints
Materials
Mixed Media, Drypoint, Lithograph, Screen
$22,800 Sale Price
20% Off
Pierre Auguste Renoir, "Mère et Enfant , " rare drypoint
Located in Chatsworth, CA
Pierre Auguste Renoir
Mère et Enfant, 1896
Drypoint in brown and green
From a very rare edition of 100 impressions on cream-toned Van Gelder laid paper
Reference: Delteil #10
Printed...
Category
Late 18th Century Impressionist Portrait Prints
Materials
Drypoint
Antiombrelle à atomiseurs de liquides (Michler/Löpsinger 822-831; Field 75-13)
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Salvador Dali (1904-1989)
Title: Antiombrelle à atomiseurs de liquides (Michler/Löpsinger 822-831; Field 75-13), Imaginations et Objets du Futur (Liquid atomizer anti-shade, ...
Category
1970s Surrealist Landscape Prints
Materials
Mixed Media, Drypoint, Lithograph, Screen
'Manhattan Old and New' — Vintage New York Cityscape
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
Samuel Chamberlain, 'Manhattan Old and New', drypoint, 1929, edition 100, Chamberlain and Kingsland 81. Signed, titled, and numbered '81/100' in pencil. Titled and annotated '30.00' in pencil, in the artist's hand, bottom margin. Matted to museum standards, unframed.
A superb, finely-detailed impression, with selectively wiped plate tone, on heavy Rives cream wove paper; full margins (1 1/2 to 2 1/4 inches), in excellent condition.
The subject of the print is the lower Manhattan cityscape just before the Depression.
Image size 8 3/4 x 6 13/16 inches (222 x 173 mm); sheet size 12 3/4 x 10 inches (324 x 254 mm).
Impressions of this work are held in the collections of the National Gallery of Art and the Zimmerli Art Museum.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
'There is something about the atmospheric vibrancy of an etching which imparts a peculiar and irresistible life to architectural drawing...A copper plate offers receptive ground to the meticulously detailed drawing which so often appeals to the architect'. —Samuel Chamberlain, from the Catalogue Raisonné of his prints.
Samuel V. Chamberlain (1896 - 1975), printmaker, photographer, author, and teacher, was born in Iowa. His family moved to Aberdeen, Washington in 1901, and in 1913, Chamberlain enrolled in the University of Washington in Seattle, where he studied architecture under Carl Gould. By 1915, he was enrolled in the School of Architecture of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston. With the United States' involvement in the First World War, Chamberlain sailed to France, where he volunteered in the American Field Service. In 1918, he was transferred to the United States Army to complete his tour of duty. After the war, he returned to Boston and resumed his architectural studies, which he eventually discontinued, working for a few years as a commercial artist.
Chamberlain received the American Field Service Scholarship in 1923, which he used to travel to Spain, North Africa, and Italy. In 1924 he was living in Paris, where he studied lithography with Gaston Dorfinant and etching and drypoint with Edouard Léon, publishing his first etching the following year. In 1927, he studied drypoint with Malcolm Osborne...
Category
1920s American Modern Landscape Prints
Materials
Drypoint
