Etching

Etching, a method of engraving (q.v.), (from old Dutch, etsen, to eat), consists in eating-in a. design upon steel, copper, or other substance by means of an acid. The substance to be etched is covered with wax or composition, and the design is scratched through this down to the metal, and acid is then applied which eats into the substance wherever it is not protected by the wax. Albert Durer is said to have been the first to adopt the method, and it was much employed by Rembrandt and his school.