Catalogues - Engravings

• The Collection
• History
• Printing
• Materials
• Techniques
• Glossary
• Biographies
• Bibliography

The Atelier Collection is an historic collection of hand-pulled and hand-coloured engravings and a small selection of hand-coloured prints. Rosenstiel's has built up the collection since the company was founded in 1880 and the original copper plates from which the prints are pulled span two centuries of print history. Each print is painstakingly pulled by skilled craftsmen, using techniques which have changed little over the last four hundred years. Most images are then hand-coloured by a skilled watercolourist, whilst some are carefully inked in the plate.

Materials

The paper used for the intaglio prints is acid-free and 100% cotton rag. It is also substantial, ranging in weight from 270g/m2 to 300g/m2. The paper used for the photo-mechanical prints is also acid-free. Some is part cotton rag; the rest is made from highly refined cellulose wood-free fibre. All is of excellent, durable quality and of good weight.

The inks used for the intaglio prints are made by Charbonnel of Paris. In the case of certain colour prints, pigments may be ground by hand in pure linseed oil.

All hand colouring is done with artists' watercolour of the best quality, supplemented by special pigments such as gamboge (to achieve the richest yellows) and gum arabic (to impart a soft sheen to appropriate areas). Traditional colours and colouring methods are carefully respected.