Mezzotint

The scraping technique, also called mezzotint or black art, is an intaglio printing process that was developed in Holland in 1642 by the German Ludwig von Siegen. She lived in the 17th and 18th centuries in the English Portraiture its peak. The first known portrait of this technique dates back to 1642 and shows the Countess Elisabeth of Hesse.

The mezzotint was used mainly for single sheets and rarely for book illustrations.

Technology

In the mezzotint the smoothed copper plate with a serrated Granierstahl (also weighing iron or mezzotint knife called ) or with the grain Roller ( Roulette), a squat with teeth wheel or a ball ( Moulette ) completely roughened by pressing small wells to the plate with is a dense, uniform grid completely covered. Dignity in this state, a deduction of the printing plate made ​​, there would be a uniform, velvety- black print.

On the prepared surface of the artist smoothes them with a scraper or burnisher the places where he wants brightness. The disk must be the more polished, the brighter the print tone is desired. In the following inking the copper is then resume depending on the smoothness and roughness of less or more color and leave the paper when printing. Thus, all tones of very light to very dark can be generated for a high-contrast light-shadow effect.

The graphical method, which is accompanied by a considerable amount of time, is particularly suitable for reproducing the effect of large paintings. However, since the drives are very fragile, is at most a circulation less than 100 prints per plate in high quality possible.

Exemplary works in mezzotint

Due to the high workload, which is associated with this technique, there is little modern work in mezzotint. This is even more than can be achieved with the scraped aquatint at least a similar effect. But there are at least two well-known works, in which this technique was applied:

  • Francisco de Goya: The colossus to 1810-1817 arisen, Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale
  • Edvard Munch: Young girl on the beach, created in 1896, Berlin, Staatliche Museen, Prints and Drawings

Identifying a Mezzo Tinto

In addition to the general characteristics of a gravure printing graphics, a mezzotint following characteristics:

  • Plastic, painterly effect
  • Running time, most of velvety -looking tones in all shades from deepest black to the brightest white
  • Under a magnifying glass, small, regular crosses or asterisks indicate that arise from the cross points of the preparatory cradle cuts.
17th century 18th century Hand scraper Kupferstichkabinett Berlin Walter Koschatzky
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