Line engraving
![A line engraving of the ship Putnam of the U.S. Navy, from the U.S. Naval Historical Center](/Images/godic/202501/24/Line_engraving_of_the_ship_Putnam0028.jpg")
![Ecce Homo, ca. 1780, by Jean-Pierre Norblin de La Gourdaine.Etched copperplate (left), and print obtained as the impression (right). National Museum in Warsaw.](/Images/godic/202501/24/Norblin_Ecce_Homo_010028.jpg")
![](/Images/godic/202501/24/Norblin_Ecce_Homo_020028.jpg")
![Detail of an engraving by Marcantonio](/Images/godic/202501/24/Pietro_Aretino_p0028.jpg")
Line engraving is a term for engraved images printed on paper to be used as prints or illustrations. The term is now much less used and when is, it is mainly in connection with 18th or 19th century commercial illustrations for magazines and books, or reproductions of paintings.