Mezzotint
Mezzotinta (grabado a media tinta)
- Date
- 1642 · confidence medium
- Place
- Kassel, Hesse, Germany
- Credited to
- Ludwig von Siegen
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What it is
An engraving technique in which the plate is roughened with a rocker until it holds ink, then burnished in the lighter areas. It gives velvety blacks and graduated tones, ideal for reproducing paintings.
The portrait of Amalie Elisabeth of Hesse-Kassel (1642) is the first dated mezzotint; Prince Rupert took it to England.
What it led to
- reproduction of portraits and paintings in continuous tones
- spread of 18th-century English engraving
- a base for tonal printmaking such as aquatint