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The Baxter Patented Process

George Baxter's "The Daughter of the Regiment" published 1856

Printing in colour had been experimented with since 1557 and a number of names can be cited as playing a key role in the development of colour printing. These include Hugo da Carpi, John Baptist Jackson, William Savage, Edward Kirkhall, Arthur Pond, George Knapton, Albert Durer and James Christopher Le Blon.

Despite experiments in colour by these various printers, most prints were still either monochrome or hand coloured by the late 1820s. This was very labour intensive and therefore very expensive. Baxter, however, brought together various methods of printing which enabled prints to be made in colour which were both effective and relatively cheap.

Baxter used wood and metal colour blocks in conjunction with steel key plates to produce his pictures using oil inks. The subject was first engraved onto a steel key plate and impressions of this plate were taken, from which the colour blocks were cut - a different block being produced for each different colour. The steel key plate would be used to print a monochrome picture and then the colours would be built up by printing from the colour blocks using the relief process. Some of the prints required only 8 different blocks but some involved as many as 20 different colours, each being superimposed on the other after being allowed to dry. Baxter was meticulous in his work (unlike some of his followers and imitators), taking great care that the colours were not applied out of register and would only apply two colours per day at the most, allowing each to dry between each pressing.