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The german author Aloys Senefelder invented the lithography in 1796.

Lithography is a technique of printing based on the immiscibility of oil and water.

The artist drew with oil or fat onto the surface of a smooth, level lithographic limestone plate. The stone was treated with a mixture of acid and gum arabic etching the portions of the stone that were not protected by the fat. The stone was then moistened, these etched areas retained water. An oil-based ink could then be applied and would be repelled by the water, sticking only to the original drawing. The ink would finally be transferred to a paper sheet.

The development of intaglio printmaking is linked to the beginning paper production in Europe at the XIVth century and the work of goldsmiths and armourers.

It is a technique of engraving in which the drawing is incised into a metal plate (copper, steel, zinc ...).

The ink was then applied to the surface by wiping the plate to push the ink into the recessed lines

Printing the plate onto a humid paper with a press created a side-inverted image.

Wood engraving, the oldest technique, is born in China.

It is a printing technique, in which the artist works an image into a block of wood. The parts of the wooden block which should not appear in the final print are removed from the block by cutting them away with burins.

The paper is then printed with a printing press.

Strong water etching has been known in Europe since the Middle Ages.

It is the process of using acid (mordant) to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal plate to create an image in intaglio in the metal.

The lines thickness and deepness depends on the duration of etching, the acid and the used ground

The metal plate is then inked and put through a printing press with a moistened sheet of paper.

The painter Jan van de Velde IV invented the aquatint technique in Amsterdam at the XVIIth century.

It is a variant of strong water etching.

The longer the plate is being etched, the deeper the depressions between the grains will be, thus holding more ink when being inked and displaying a darker tone when the plate is printed. To produce tones, parts of the plate are covered with acid-resistant varnish during etching steps.