Etching
![The Soldier and his Wife. Etching by Daniel Hopfer, who is believed to have been the first to apply the technique to printmaking](/Images/godic/202502/12/The_Soldier_and_his_Wife1421.jpg")
![Rembrandt, The Virgin and Child with a Cat, 1654. Original copper etching plate above, example of the print below, with composition reversed.](/Images/godic/202502/12/Virgin_and_child_with_cat1421.jpg")
![Christ Preaching, known as The Hundred Guilder Print; etching c1648 by Rembrandt.](/Images/godic/202502/12/Rembrandt_The_Hundred_Guilder_Print1421.jpg")
![Selection of early etched printing plates from the British Museum](/Images/godic/202502/12/BM_engraved_printing_plates1421.jpg")
Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types of material. As a method of printmaking, it is, along with engraving, the most important technique for old master prints, and remains in wide use today. In a number of modern variants such as microfabrication etching and photochemical milling it is a crucial technique in much modern technology, including circuit boards.