Rembrandt
 Because Rembrandt was a superb etcher, critics were convinced he had discovered a secret process. The secret was only Rembrandt's genius. He was arguably the greatest etcher in history. In 17th century Europe, the major means of mass communication was either etching, engraving or woodcut. During his lifetime, Rembrandt (who did no engraving or woodcuts) was known as an etcher or painter. Connoisseurs of that time prized his etchings more than his oils.
Many of these prints, from some 290 plates, are no larger than a postcard. None is greater than 21 by 18 inches. Though a small treasure, "Virgian and Child in the Clouds," part of the Pearson Collection, is one of the larger of Rembrandt's works in this media.
Before Rembrandt's time, when engraving was used more frequently than etching, the artist worked directly on the metal plate (usually copper) cutting lines into the surface with a thin, diagonally sharpened steel rod called a burin. The cutaway metal is scraped away, the plate inked and prints are pulled from it.
In etching the plate is covered with a protective coat of rein. The artist scratches his design through the resin with a needle and then immerses the place in acid, which bites the metal wherever the resin has been removed. While engraving creates a neat, regular line, acid produces slightly irregular, vibrating quality. The challenge appealed to the artist's inventiveness.
An etched copper plate can be easily changed or corrected by adding fresh coats of resin and making new scratches and placing it in the acid bath another time. Although Rembrandt might rework a plate for several years, printing out the variations along the way, he actually worked freely with great speed so that his prints, while scrupulously detailed, have a sense of spontaneity. He was not bothered by mirror images or prints. While some artists reversed their original drawing so that the print transfer world not be reversed, Rembrandt did no worry about mirror script signatures; nor did he correct self portraits which showed him to be left-handed.
Scratching directly onto the plates with a dry point needle in combination with the lines etched on the plates by acid, Rembrandt also varied the pressure of his strokes to produce both thick and thin lines. He would leave the copper burr raised by the dry point which, in turn, retained ink, giving a strong, velvely texture almost like charcoal. For very delicate layers of shading, he would use even thicker engraver's burin as well, creating a whole new style of etching. At least 79 of Rembrandt's original plates are still in existence, many of them worn or ruined by reworking in later times. Experts believe that the example in the Pearson Collection is a true image etched and printed by the artist. When you study the delicate work, look into the shadowy strokes for another Madonna face which the artist liked to include.
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