Poltinta

Poltinta is a historical printmaking technique used for color intaglio prints produced by combining multiple color impressions. The name, from Italian poltinta meaning “many inks,” is used to designate prints in which color is introduced through several inked plates or impressions rather than by hand coloring alone. In a typical poltinta process, an image is engraved or etched on a metal plate, and separate plates or color layers are used for different tonal areas; the prints are produced in sequence with careful registration to yield a full-color image. Ground layers such as aquatint or mezzotint may be employed on individual plates to create tonal values, and the color layers are then printed in succession on a single sheet. Some poltinta copies were subsequently hand-tinted to adjust color balance, but the defining feature is color added via multiple ink impressions.

The technique reached a peak in 17th- to 19th-century Europe, especially in Italy and the Low Countries, where publishers specialized in color prints from copper- or zinc-plate engravings. It allowed relatively inexpensive dissemination of paintings and drawings and contributed to the spread of visual culture before the adoption of chromolithography.

Today, poltinta is described in museum catalogues and scholarly works as a color-intaglio method or category of color-printed works; individual examples vary in their exact combination of plates and tonal techniques. It is distinct from post-print hand coloring and from single-plate color methods that rely on a single print.