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A lithograph is a flat print, i. e. the lines and areas to be printed are neither raised nor sunk, but entirely level with the plate. This can be made of limestone or slate, which is the reason for speaking of a lithograph (Greek lithos -- a stone). The particular type of limestone used absorbs both fat and water, both substances that do not mix. If we now draw on the stone with greasy chalk or other greasy colours and wet the entire surface, the water will only cling to the portions of the stone not covered in colour, and will eventually evaporate.
The stone is then covered with greasy printer's ink, which will not adhere to the wet areas, but only to the drawing. This can now be be transferred to paper. That is the basic principle of lithography (it is slightly more complicated in practice), the technique invented in 1796 by Alois Senefelder, who saw in it a cheap was of reproducing his own writings. The lithograph was taken up enthusiastically by artists everywhere, since it allowed pen, brush and chalk to be used as they would be on paper.
Goya availed himself of this technique occasionally, Daumier used it almost exclusively in preference to any other. ToulouseLautrec was one of the first artists to make coloured lithographs from several stone plates. But since this required a fairly large number of unwieldy stones -- as many in number as colours -- experiments with other types of plates were made and it was soon discovered that zinc can be substituted for slate. The term 'lithography' is also used for printing from zinc plates, although these are not often employed.
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