
Collection Online as of March 23, 2023
(British, 1769–1832)
Aquatint
In memory of Mrs. Hermon A. Kelley 1946.252
not on view
The late 18th century saw the development of color printing, a laborious process in which the image is built up from separate plates for each color. Applying Newton’s theory of color, a plate was prepared for each of the three primary colors (blue, yellow, and red) as well as for a darker color (usually black, to provide a unifying background tone). These plates, too, were often embellished with hand work in watercolor