This technology first appeared in late 1430s.

The printmaker creates tones by rubbing down or burnishing the rough surface to varying degrees of smoothness to change the ink-holding capacity of chosen areas on the plate. If printed at this stage the print image would be solid black.

In the process of mezzotint, the printing plate was indented by rocking a toothed metal tool across the surface. Soft copper plates are generally used for drypoint printing. It is inked and creates a velvety appearance. However, in drypoint the curl of displaced metal that forms as the line is cut, called the burr, is not removed. In the process of drypoint, marks are made on a plate using a sharp, pointed instrument. In the process of engraving, the image is created by the burin, a wedge or lozenge-shaped tool, directly on the plate. Etching is also used as a catch-all term for any intaglio process employing an acid bath in the production of an image. Typically, the hard ground is drawn through with a needle, exposing the metal to form the image to be printed. The ground is a coating used to protect the plate from the action of the acid. In the process of etching, acid is used to bite an image into a metal plate coated with an acid-resistant ground. Basically, intaglio processes include etching, engraving, drypoint, and mezzotint: It incised image into a surface, then the incised line or sunken area holds the ink.

Intaglio is a kind of printing technique that is opposite to relief print.

What is intaglio print