Mezzotint is an intaglio printmaking technique known for creating a wide range of textures and tones. They are produced by roughening and smoothening areas of a copper or steel plate, altering the ink retention of the plate during printing. The printmaker uses a rocker, a chisel-like tool with small teeth, along with scrapers, burnishers, and roulettes to vary the roughness of the plate, replicating the textures of fabric, hair, and flesh. Although 17th-century printmakers often utilized mezzotint techniques in isolation, the technique was occasionally implemented with other intaglio processes, such as etching, engraving, and drypoint.
During the 17th century, the mezzotint process tended to be faster than other intaglio techniques because of the relative ease in replicating textures. However, mezzotint plates produced far fewer prints, since the precisely roughened surfaces degraded after the plate was repeatedly wiped to remove excess ink during printing. This deteriorating tendency placed high value on the first few prints, and printmakers reworked many degraded plates to yield more premium prints. Wallerant Vaillant was a Dutch mezzotint printmaker who used the novel technique to produce prints of staggering tonal nuance, such as his Venus and Hercules, included in the Middlebury Museum’s collections.
Written by Tobias Ziemke, edited by Simone Edgar Holmes
Bibliography
Alexander, David. “Mezzotint”. Grove Art Online. 2003. 2020.https://doi.org/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T057653.
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. “Wallerant Vaillant.” 2012. https://art.famsf.org/wallerant-vaillant.
Griffiths, Antony. “The Technology and its Implications.” In The Print Before Photography, 28-41. London: British Museum Press, 2016.
“Amelia Elizabeth.” The Met Museum. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/360392.
