Piotr STACHIEWICZ (1858-1938), Lygia, 1898

heliogravure, paper; 23 x 17.5 cm (plate imprint), 37.5 x 31 cm (binding, passe-partout); signed and described on the plate at the bottom: P. Stachiewicz / Lygia; inscribed under the print: LYGIA / ("QUO VADIS"); Meisenbach Riffarth & Co.

Georg Meisenbach was a German engraver and inventor of the autotype. In 1883, Meisenbach & Co. merged with Heinrich Riffarth & Co. to form Meisenbach Riffarth & Company, a well-known European printing company.

Heliogravure (gr.helio + gravure) - a type of graphic intaglio printing technique, similar to aquatint, involving the photographic transfer of an image onto a metal plate (usually copper) and etching with photosensitive emulsion so that the brightest areas create the shallowest recesses. Invented in 1879.Printing is done in a special hand press. Heliogravure, which was widespread in the 19th century, was later supplanted by rotogravure, as heliogravure is an expensive and very time-consuming method. Heliogravure is used only when it is necessary to create a small number of copies of very high quality.