The Portrait / El retrato (Natural History Museums Series) Photograph - Limited Edition of 13

This is a photogravure hand pulled on a traditional etching press. This is print number 6, part of a limited and varied edition of 13 prints, each with intentional differences resulting from the way the artist inked the copper plate and using different colors, sometimes just black etching ink, sometimes with brownish ink. The image, constructed from a photograph taken by the artist, belongs to a series on Natural History Museums. The Natural History Museum in London has a beautiful building, conceived as a `cathedral to nature’, which she takes the opportunity to visit on every trip. Please pay attention to the size of the paper with the white margin. Print image size: 5,6 inches x 7,4 inches (14,3cm x 18,7 cm) Paper size: 11 inches x 15 inches (28cm x 38cm) A photogravure is a print made by hand from a copper plate used as a matrix. The process, also called ‘photogravure on copper plate’, sometimes ‘heliogravure’, was developed in the 19th century and it is currently practiced by few studios in the world. The technique involves working with a sensitized gelatin and etching a copper plate with a mordant that leaves a bas-relief in the metal. It is this bas-relief that will contain the ink that will be transferred to the paper by passing it through a press, in the same way as a ‘traditional’ etching. The way the ink is transferred to the paper, intaglio style, provides a powerful surface to the print.