In its ongoing goal to research and promote works on paper and the art of printmaking, Gilden’sArts Gallery is glad to present its new exhibition Aquatint: Printing in Shades.
Aquatint was first invented in 1650 by the printmaker Jan van deVelde (1593-1641) in Amsterdam.The technique was soon forgotten until the 18th century, when a French artist, Jean Baptiste Le Prince (1734-1781), rediscovers a way of achieving tone on a copper plate without the hard labour involved in mezzotint. It was however not in France but in England where this technique spread and flourished. Paul Sandby (1731 - 1809) refined the technique and coined the term Aquatint to describe the medium’s capacity to create the effects of ink and colour washes. He and other British artists used Aquatint to capture the pictorial quality and tonal complexities of watercolour and painting