BURIN or LINE-ENGRAVING

This engraving technique is the most ancient procedure; its name is linked to the tool used to engrave metals. Dating back to the first half of the fifteenth century, it derives from techniques adopted by medieval goldsmiths, who used the burin to engrave thin layers of metal, usually silver, then filled the carved lines with a black substance called "nigellum" to bring out the design.

When to check the chiselling a sort of thick ink was poured into the carved lines instead of the niello, it was discovered that the drawing could leave its print on a wet sheet of paper producing the first burin impressions. Nigellum means both the engraved thin layer of metal and the print on paper. The chalcographic technique, called line-engraving, envolved when the engraved matrices were printed on a sheet of paper using a printing press.

The burin is a thin steel bar with a sharp end cut crosswise and having different types of sections: square, triangle, rhomboid etc. A wooden handle shaped like a half-sphere can be adapted to the artist's hand so that he can exert a constant pressure with his hand and press the tool with his finger at the same time. The inclination of the burin on the surface depends on the kind of tip used.

During engraving, the plate is laid on a leather cushion filled with sand to keep it from shifting under the pressure of the artist's hand but so that he can move it as he works. To create curves, he holds the burin stationary and rotates the cushion. As the burin gouges the metal it raises shavings called burrs, that are removed at the end of the work. The engraved lines hold the ink for printing. The result is a drawing with sharp clear lines that constitute the main characteristic of this technique

In the fifteenth century, artists such as Mantegna, Schongauer and Dürer engraved their drawings directly onto the copper giving the burin an autonomous expressive role.

In later centuries it was mainly used to reproduce great paintings, and in the nineteenth century to illustrate historical events and customs.

Only at the end of the last century was engraving as a means for creating art discovered again, and the burin acquired artistic autonomy. 

 (from "tecniche dell'incisione originale" INClub Firenze)