What is a mezzotint?

A mezzotint is an intaglio print known for its deep, velvety blacks and smooth half-tones. Instead of drawing lines into a plate, the printmaker works from darkness towards light.

Dark to light

First the whole copper plate is roughened with a rocker, a curved, toothed blade rocked across the surface in many directions until it is covered with tiny burrs. Inked and printed at this stage, the plate would give a solid, soft black. The artist then scrapes and burnishes the burrs down where light is wanted: the smoother the copper, the less ink it holds and the paler the print.

A short history

The first dated mezzotint was made by the German officer Ludwig von Siegen in 1642. The technique reached England in the 1660s and became so popular for reproducing portraits and paintings that it was called the “English manner”. Because the burrs wear down quickly in the press, only a limited number of rich impressions could be pulled from a plate.

What mezzotint does well

Dark backgrounds, candlelight, interiors and anything that should glow out of shadow. Dutch flower still lifes and the dim interior of a great building are natural subjects: see Flowers in a Glass and Santa Sofia.

How our mezzotints are made

Tiraj, our own printmaking software, rebuilds the rocked ground and scrapes it back to the light of a public-domain museum image, then prints it in warm black or bistre on cream paper. A dark print like this holds a wall on its own and suits warm, low-lit rooms; print it on heavyweight matte paper so the blacks stay deep.