Mezzotint

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Mezzotint is  a printmaking process of the intaglio family. it  was the first tonal method to be used, enabling half-tones to be produced without using line or  dot based techniques like hatching, cross-hatching or  stipple. Mezzotint achieves tonality by roughening the plate with thousands of little dots made by a metal tool with small teeth. In printing the tiny pits in the plate hold the ink when the face of the plate is  wiped clean. A high level of quality and  richness in the print can be achieved.

Contents 1 Dark to light method 2 Light to dark method 3 Printing 4 Detailed technique 5 Tone 6 History 7 Mezzotint engravers 8 See also 9 References 10 External links

[edit] Dark to light method

This became the most common method. The whole surface (usually) of a metal, usually copper, plate is  roughened evenly. If the plate were printed at this point it  would show as solid black. The image is  then created out by scraping or  burnishing smooth parts of the surface with metal tools, so that the smoothed parts will print lighter, or  not at all. This is  called working from "dark to light", or  the "subtractive" method . By varying the degree of smoothing, mid-tones between black and  white can be created, hence the name mezzo-tinto which is  Italian for "half-tone" or  "half-painted".

[edit] Light to dark method

Alternatively, it  is possible to create the image directly by only roughening a blank plate selectively, where the darker parts of the image are  to be. This is  called working from "light to dark", or  the "additive" method. The first mezzotints by Ludwig von Siegen were made in this way. Especially in this method, Mezzotint can be combined with other intaglio techniques such as engraving, on areas of the plate not roughened.

[edit] Printing

The plate is  printed in the normal way for an  intaglio plate; the whole surface is  inked, the ink is  then wiped off the surface to leave ink only in the pits of the still rough areas below the original surface of the plate. The plate is  put through a high-pressure printing press next to a sheet of paper, and  the process repeated.

Because the pits in the plate are  not deep, only a small number of top-quality impressions (copies) can be printed before the quality of the tone starts to degrade as the pressure of the press begins to smooth them out. Perhaps only one or  two hundred really good impressions can be taken.

[edit] Detailed technique

Plates can be mechanically roughened; one way is  to rub fine metal filings over the surface with a piece of glass; the finer the filings, the smaller the grain of the surface. Special roughening tools called Rockers have  been in use since at least the eighteenth century. The method commonly in use today is  to use a steel rocker approximately five inches wide, which has between 45 and  120 teeth per inch on the face of a blade in the shape of a shallow arc, with a wooden handle projecting upwards in a T-shape. Rocked steadily from side to side at the correct angle, the rocker will proceed forward creating burrs in the surface of the copper. The plate is  then moved - either rotated by a set number of degrees or  through 90 degrees according to preference - and  then rocked in another pass. This is  repeated until the plate is  roughened evenly and  will print a completely solid tone of black.

[edit] Tone

Mezzotint is  known for the luxurious quality of its tones: first, because an  evenly, finely roughened surface holds a lot of ink, allowing deep solid colors to be printed; secondly because the process of smoothing the plate with burin, burnisher and  scraper allows fine gradations in tone to be developed. The scraper is  a triangular ended tool, and  the burnisher has a smooth round end - not unlike many spoon handles.

[edit] History

The mezzotint printmaking method was invented by the German professional soldier Ludwig von Siegen (1609-c1680). His earliest mezzotint print dates to 1642 and  is a portrait of Amelia Elizabeth, Landgravine of Hesse-Cassel (right). This was made by working from light to dark. The rocker seems to have  been invented by Prince Rupert of the Rhine, a famous cavalry commander in the English Civil War, who was the next to use the process, and  took it  to England. Sir Peter Lely saw the potential for using it  to publicise his portraits, and  encouraged a number of Dutch printmakers to come to England.

The process was especially widely used in England from the mid-eighteenth century, to reproduce portraits and  other paintings. Since the mid-nineteenth century it  has been relatively little used. Robert Kipniss and  Peter Ilsted are  two notable 20th century exponents of the technique.

The word mezzotint is  derived from the Italian mezzo-tinto, meaning half-painted.

[edit] Mezzotint engravers

• Ludwig von Siegen - inventor
• Prince Rupert of the Rhine
• Richard Josey (1840-1906), engraver of James McNeill Whistler's Whistler's Mother.
• M.C. Escher

[edit] See also

• Prince Rupert of the Rhine, who helped develop the process

[edit] References

• Wax, Carol. The Mezzotint: History and  Technique (Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1990).

[edit] External links

The early history of mezzotint and  the prints of Richard Tompson and  Alexander Browne, from the National Portrait Gallery, London - Good feature on the early history

The Printed image in the West:Mezzotint - from the Metropolitan Museum of Art timeline of Art History - fuller description & history, with images