What color is mezzotint?
A Mezzotint is an intaglio printmaking process developed in Amsterdam in the mid 1600s, using a copper plate which has been worked (grounded) using a semi-circular fine-toothed tool (rocker) so that the entire surface is roughened. In this state, when inked the plate will print solid black.
Are mezzotints valuable?
Consequently, the resulting prints were expensive in their day and are rare and valuable in ours. A mezzotint is a distinctive tonal print made using a copper plate that has been worked or ‘grounded’ using a semi-circular fine-toothed hand tool known as a ‘rocker’ so that the entire surface is roughened with tiny pits.
What does mezzotint mean in art?
Mezzotint is an engraving technique developed in the seventeenth century which allows for the creation of prints with soft gradations of tone and rich and velvety blacks.
What does mezzotint?
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.
Why is mezzotint important?
Why is it unique and important to Intaglio printmaking? Mezzotint’s tone is created using a special tool, like with drypoint. As the tool moves along the metal surface, it roughs the surface and creates different levels of grooves.
What does aquatint look like?
Aquatint, a variety of etching widely used by printmakers to achieve a broad range of tonal values. The process is called aquatint because finished prints often resemble watercolour drawings or wash drawings. Etched or engraved lines are often used with aquatint to achieve greater definition of form.
What kind of print is a mezzotint made of?
A mezzotint (in the Italian sense ‘half-tone’; French manière noire; German schabkunst) is a print made using a copper plate which has been worked over (‘grounded’) using a semi-circular fine-toothed tool (‘rocker’) so that the entire surface is roughened. In this state, when inked the plate will print solid black.
Where can I find the mezzotints of Browne and Smith?
In order to contribute to our knowledge and understanding of seventeenth and eighteenth century mezzotint production a project has been launched to catalogue the mezzotints of Tompson, Browne and Smith and, where possible, to locate the original paintings that are reproduced by these prints.
Why was mezzotint used as a portrait medium?
By the 1680s mezzotint was much better known and had been enthusiastically adopted by native printmakers such as Isaac Beckett and John Smith. It became the preferred medium for reproducing portraits due to its ability to reproduce painterly effects and ease of production compared with line engraving.
Who are some famous artists who used the mezzotint?
Mezzotint was also used by Beckett and Smith and artists such as Robert Robinson, Bernard Lens (II) and William Faithorne Jr for ‘subject’ prints covering the entire range of religious, mythological, landscape, genre and still-life imagery.
