French Matting and Washlines

French Matting is an ancient technique using pale watercolour wash panels and ink lines around the perimeter of a matted piece of art.
Many early European artists and engravers worked on paper. Their works were mounted onto larger sheets and bound into books or folios. They then created borders of lines and panels around their images to draw the eye inward, repeating the delicacy and contrasts of the images. This technique came to be known as French Matting.