For the M R James short story, see The Mezzotint. For the Compton Mackenzie novel, see Mezzotint (novel).
Saint Agnes, mezzotint by John Smith after Godfrey Kneller, usually thought to be a portrait of Kneller's daughter, Catherine Voss, by his mistress[1]
Mezzotint is a monochrome printmaking process of the intaglio family. It was the first printing process that yielded half-tones without using line- or dot-based techniques like hatching, cross-hatching or stipple. Mezzotint achieves tonality by roughening a metal plate with thousands of little dots made by a metal tool with small teeth, called a "rocker". In printing, the tiny pits in the plate retain the ink when the face of the plate is wiped clean. This technique can achieve a high level of quality and richness in the print, and produce a furniture print which is large and bold enough to be framed and hung effectively in a room.[2]
Mezzotint is often combined with other intaglio techniques, usually etching and engraving, including stipple engraving. The process was especially widely used in England from the eighteenth century, and in France was called la manière anglais (“the English manner”). Until the 20th century it has mostly been used for reproductive prints to reproduce portraits and other paintings, rather than for original compositions.[3] From the mid-18th century it was somewhat in competition with the other main tonal technique of the day, aquatint.
Since the mid-nineteenth century it has been relatively little used, as lithography and other techniques produced comparable results more easily.[4] Sir Frank Short (1857–1945) was an important pioneer of the mezzotint revival in the United Kingdom along with Peter Ilsted (1864–1933) in Denmark.
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 colours 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.[5]
Mezzotint is a monochrome printmaking process of the intaglio family. It was the first printing process that yielded half-tones without using line- or...
"The Mezzotint" is a ghost story by British writer M. R. James, included in his first collection Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1904). Mr. Williams, the...
matrix. Intaglio techniques include collagraphy, engraving, etching, mezzotint, aquatint. Planographic, where the matrix retains its original surface...
Times called "a virtuoso printmaker and art historian" for her work in mezzotint and her writings on the history and technique of that medium. Carol Wax...
Fire Records/Mezzotint The Possum in the Driveway (2017) on Mezzotint The Gus (2019) on Mezzotint Franks And A Flag (2020) on Mezzotint "Digging Through...
their final release to date Portrait of a Damaged Family on Mulcahy's own Mezzotint Records label. Since the final Miracle Legion album, Mulcahy has released...
The Great Executioner is a mezzotint by the soldier and amateur artist Prince Rupert of the Rhine (1619-1682), finished in 1658. The subject of the picture...
soldier and amateur engraver, who invented the printmaking technique of mezzotint, a printing-process reliant on mechanical pressure used to print more...
prints using other techniques such as etching in particular, but also mezzotint and other techniques. Many old master prints also combine techniques on...
Valentine Green FSA (3 October 1739 – 29 July 1813) was a British mezzotinter and print publisher. Green trained under Robert Hancock, a Worcester engraver...
George Fiddes Watt (15 February 1873 – 22 November 1960) was a Scottish portrait painter and engraver. Watt studied art at Gray's School of Art, Edinburgh...
John Raphael Smith (1751 – 2 March 1812) was a British painter and mezzotinter. He was the son of Thomas Smith of Derby, the landscape painter, and father...
Tim Tell-Troth's Knavery of Astrology (1680). Visual evidence such as mezzotints and print media is also identified revealing scenes of flagellation, such...
is then washed off the plate before printing. Another tonal technique, mezzotint, begins with a plate surface that is evenly indented and roughened so...
Satan Presiding at the Infernal Council is part of a series of 48 mezzotint engravings that British artist John Martin created between 1823 and 1827 to...
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