mezzotint

Print produced by a method of etching in density of tone rather than line, popular in the 18th and 19th centuries when it was largely used for the reproduction of paintings, especially portraits. A copper or steel plate is roughened with a finely-toothed tool known as a ‘rocker’ to raise an even, overall burr (rough edge), which will hold ink. At this point the plate would print a rich, even black, so areas of burr are carefully smoothed away with a ‘scraper’ to produce a range of lighter tones. Primarily a reproductive technique, mezzotint declined rapidly with the invention of photography.

Mezzotint was invented by Ludwig Von Siegen of Utrecht (1609–1675). Another pioneer in the medium was Prince Rupert, nephew of Charles I of England, who was also responsible for initiating the first Englishman, William Sherwin, in the art, established by a dated mezzotint portrait of Charles II (1669). Many of the earliest practitioners were English, and by the end of the 17th century it was generally known as la manière anglaise.

It was introduced into America by Peter Pelham (1684–1751).