There exist a number of different categories of print which can broadly be divided into “intaglio” and “relief.” Definitions of both, along with further sub-categories, can be found on the glossary page.
Comparisons between the various methods of engraving and etching, from the mid-1400s on, can be found below. Most of the examples have been taken from digitised museum catalogues which allow for high quality zooming in on works of art.
Engravings and Woodcuts
A print taken from a woodcut can usually be identified by its stronger, deeper lines, and sharper difference between light and dark. By contrast, the engraved print allowed for a greater level of detail, and experimentation with how the line could be applied and how shading was created. The two examples below reflect some of these differences. Both were made by the early 16th-century north Italian printmaker, Giovanni Battista Palumba.
Giovanni Battista Palumba, Leda and her Children, c. 1500 – 1510, engraving, Metropolitan Museum, New York: 51.623.3
Giovanni Battista Palumba, Zeus as an eagle, abducting Ganymede, c. 1500 – 1510, woodcut, Metropolitan Museum, New York: 19.28.5
Giovanni Battista Palumba, Leda and her Children (detail), c. 1500 – 1510, engraving, Metropolitan Museum, New York: 51.623.3
Giovanni Battista Palumba, Zeus as an eagle, abducting Ganymede (detail), c. 1500 – 1510, woodcut, Metropolitan Museum, New York: 19.28.5
Giovanni Battista Palumba, Leda and her Children (detail), c. 1500 – 1510, engraving, Metropolitan Museum, New York: 51.623.3
Giovanni Battista Palumba, Zeus as an eagle, abducting Ganymede (detail), c. 1500 – 1510, woodcut, Metropolitan Museum, New York: 19.28.5
Fine Manner and Broad Manner
Early Florentine engravings are normally divided into the Fine Manner or Broad Manner styles. The former is considered a Germanic style, while the Broad Manner is thought of as “Italianate”, having developed in Florence by the 1480s. The two styles were practiced concurrently, mainly in Florence, until the end of the century. In the Cinquecento they were largely rendered obsolete.
The Fine Manner is defined by its short, straight, delicate lines engraved in parallel or cross hatching. Often, the lines were placed very close to one another so that there was only a small amount of space visible, making the image look softer overall. The Broad Manner, by contrast, is represented in prints in which the lines were spaced further apart. These lines were more often parallel, longer, and oblique.
Baccio Baldini was known for his Fine Manner engravings, while Francesco Rosselli is commonly associated with the Broad Manner. Below is a design by Baldini of Moses, from a series of the Prophets and Sibyls, all executed in the Fine Manner style. Rosselli later copied the group in the Broad Manner style.
Baccio Baldini (attr.), The Prophet Moses, 1470, Fine Manner engraving, Art Institute, Chicago: 1956.987
Francesco Rosselli after Baccio Baldini, The Prophet Amos, c. 1480 – 1498, Broad Manner engraving, Art Institute, Chicago: 1934.5
Baccio Baldini (attr.), The Prophet Moses (detail), 1470, Fine Manner engraving, Art Institute, Chicago: 1956.987
Francesco Rosselli after Baccio Baldini, The Prophet Amos (detail), c. 1480 – 1498, Broad Manner engraving, Art Institute, Chicago: 1934.5
Baccio Baldini (attr.), The Prophet Moses (detail), 1470, Fine Manner engraving, Art Institute, Chicago: 1956.987
Francesco Rosselli after Baccio Baldini, The Prophet Amos (detail), c. 1480 – 1498, Broad Manner engraving, Art Institute, Chicago: 1934.5
Woodcut and Chiaroscuro Woodcut
The chiaroscuro woodcut differs from the woodcut in its aims, execution, and visual effect. The former was intended to imitate wash drawings, and in order to do so, it was printed from two or more woodblocks inked with different hues. The term chiaroscuro comes from the Italian words for light (chiaro) and dark (scuro). This technique allowed for prints with greater tonal contrasts and colours than the woodcut.
Ugo da Carpi after Parmigianino, The Apostles Peter and John, c. 1530, chiaroscuro woodcut, Art Institute, Chicago: 1955.1069
Nicolò Boldrini possibly after Titian, St Jerome in the Wilderness, woodcut, Art Institute, Chicago: 1937.137
Ugo da Carpi after Parmigianino, The Apostles Peter and John (detail), c. 1530, chiaroscuro woodcut, Art Institute, Chicago: 1955.1069
Nicolò Boldrini possibly after Titian, St Jerome in the Wilderness (detail),woodcut, Art Institute, Chicago: 1937.137
Ugo da Carpi after Parmigianino, The Apostles Peter and John (detail), c. 1530, chiaroscuro woodcut, Art Institute, Chicago: 1955.1069
Nicolò Boldrini possibly after Titian, St Jerome in the Wilderness (detail),woodcut, Art Institute, Chicago: 1937.137
Stipple Engraving and Engraving
While most Italian engravings of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries employed different types of lines – usually cross and parallel hatching – to create shading, stipple engraving is the name given to the use of engraved dots on the copperplate. Giulio Campagnola is the earliest known printmaker to apply the method to printed images. He used flicks of the burin to make the dots, which he often combined with engraved lines. The resulting images conveyed a greater softness when compared with pure line engraving.
Giulio Campagnola, Christ and the Samaritan Woman, c. 1510, stipple engraving, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam: RP-P-1924-61
Marcantonio Raimondi, Saint Apollonia, c. 1510 – 1527, engraving, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam: RP-P-OB-11.889
Giulio Campagnola, Christ and the Samaritan Woman (detail), c. 1510, stipple engraving, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam: RP-P-1924-61
Marcantonio Raimondi, Saint Apollonia (detail), c. 1510 – 1527, engraving, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam: RP-P-OB-11.889
Giulio Campagnola, Christ and the Samaritan Woman (detail), c. 1510, stipple engraving, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam: RP-P-1924-61
Marcantonio Raimondi, Saint Apollonia (detail), c. 1510 – 1527, engraving, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam: RP-P-OB-11.889