Mezzotint is a printmaking technique that, unlike most intaglio methods which build an image up from lines or dots, works in reverse by first roughening the entire surface of a copper plate with a spiked tool called a rocker, so that if inked at that stage it would print as a solid, velvety black. The printmaker then works from dark to light, using scrapers and burnishers to smooth down areas of the roughened surface by varying degrees, reducing their ability to hold ink and so producing lighter tones exactly where the plate has been polished smooth, down to pure white where the surface is fully burnished. Developed in the mid-seventeenth century and named from the Italian for half-tint, mezzotint became especially popular in eighteenth century Britain for reproducing oil paintings, prized for its ability to render the soft, continuous tonal gradations of a portrait far more convincingly than engraving or etching could.
Connections
Associated With
Mezzotint and aquatint are both intaglio processes built to render continuous tone rather than line.
Drypoint and mezzotint both work a plate directly to raise a burr that holds ink for rich, soft tonal effects.
Sources
Wikipedia
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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".
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is mezzotint described as working in reverse?
Most intaglio printmaking techniques build an image up from lines or dots that print dark against a plain background. Mezzotint works the opposite way: the printmaker first roughens the entire copper plate with a spiked tool called a rocker so that, inked at that stage, it would print as a solid, velvety black. The image is then created by smoothing down areas of that roughened surface with scrapers and burnishers, working from dark to light, so the more a spot is polished, the lighter it prints, down to pure white where the surface is fully burnished.
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