Art prints are images produced in multiple impressions by printmaking methods such as woodcut, engraving, etching, mezzotint, aquatint, lithography and screen printing. They include original prints made or supervised by the artist as well as reproductive prints that copy existing paintings.
From the fifteenth century, printmaking allowed images to circulate widely, and masters such as Albrecht Dürer and Rembrandt made prints that are regarded as major works of art. In eighteenth and nineteenth-century Britain, engraved and mezzotint portraits, sporting scenes, botanical plates, caricatures and topographical views decorated homes of every kind. Later artists revived etching and wood engraving as creative media, and limited editions signed in pencil became the norm in the twentieth century. Collectors judge prints by the quality of the impression, the condition of the paper, the size of the margins and whether colouring is original. Signatures, edition numbers and states can be important for later prints. Light and damp are the main enemies, so prints should be framed with acid-free mounts and hung away from direct sunlight.
