The Engraver and the Etcher

Abraham Bosse wrote the first important treatise on the art of etching in 1645. His highly influential publication urged etchers to aspire to the precision of engravers, rather than cultivating the peculiarities of the etched line, like Rembrandt. To achieve a swelling line akin to an engraving, bosse utilized an instrument called an 'échoppe', a beveled etching needle, which he could twist in the ground to create variable widths of etched line, similar to the work of Jacques Callot. In this print, the etcher is working easily on the left, while the engraver is struggling to incise his plate on the right.