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Glite Dictionary
🖼️ A tonal print 🎨 Etching method 🖌️ To etch with tone
aquatint

aquatint

1 9.9
A print made from a metal plate that shows soft, watercolor-like tones
  • noun
  • /ˌækwəˈtɪnt/
  • Specialized
: aguatinta
  • Many renowned artists have experimented with aquatint to achieve a watercolors-like quality in their work.
  • series of aquatints
  • colored aquatint
  • Aquatint on laid paper

Examples

  • Nearby hangs an aquatint by Picasso, a portrait of Françoise Gilot, dated 1947 and priced at $75,000.

    Blog text (33)

  • Nowhere is his fascination with the eerie, the bizarre, and the cruel more savagely but delicately demonstrated than in the Caprichos, a series of aquatints later made into engravings.

    Academic text (1991)

  • The artist used aquatint to create beautiful tonal effects in her prints.

  • The exhibition featured an impressive collection of aquatint prints that showcased the artists' skills.

Synonyms

intaglio printing
vsaquatint
  • Specialized
1 8.5

A printing method where an image is cut into a metal plate and the cuts hold ink to make prints

is a specific etching method that makes tonal effects like watercolor

Surface Forms

aquatint singular
aquatints plural

Morphology

aquatint = aqua + tint (semi-transparent) = aqua + tint

The components 'aqua' (water/blue) + 'tint' (colour) transparently suggest 'water-colour-like colour', but the term is a technical printmaking term that learners may not guess precisely.

Etymology

Aquatint comes from Italian acqua 'water' and tinta 'tinted', so it literally means 'water-tint'. Artists use it to make prints with soft, watercolor-like tones, so an aquatint looks like a watercolor.