Sculptura in Aes, The Workshop of an Engraver

This engraving, made in 1591, is an important document of the printmaking process in the 1500s. The artist Johannes Stradanus portrayed the stages of making an engraving from right to left. First, the engraver carved the plate; then, it was inked and wiped. One man is shown pulling a plate from an acid bath (illustrating the etching process). Finally, the inked plate was printed on a large roller press. The finished prints were hung to dry. The engraving was one of a series of prints Stradanus made that documented important inventions of the period, ranging from the eyeglass, to distillation, to gunpowder.