anxa 
 
 94-B 
 
 18012 
 
 A NOTE ON THE ART 
 OF MEZZOTINT . . . 
 
 AND .... . . 
 
 Ill fell® MEZZOTINT PRINTING 
 IN COLOURS . . . . 
 
 BY 
 
 A. C. DICKINS . . . 
 
 COPYRIGHT 
 
 RAYMOND C. GOULD 
 324 WEST 5th STREET 
 LOS ANGELES . . . . 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2016 
 
 https://archive.org/details/noteonartofmezzoOOdick 
 
AN EARLY NOTE ON 
 MEZZOTINT 
 
 FROM THE DIARY OF JOHN EVELYN. 
 
 February 21, 1654. 
 
 “ Prince Rupert first showed me how to engrave 
 in the Mezzo-tinto manner.” 
 
 March 9, 1654. 
 
 “This afternoon Prince Rupert showed me with 
 his own hands the new way of graving, called 
 mezzo-tinto, which afterwards by his permission I 
 published in my History of Chalcography. This set 
 so many artists on work that they soon arrived 
 to the perfection it has since come to, emulating 
 the tenderest miniatures.” 
 
A SHORT NOTE ON THE 
 HISTORY OF MEZZOTINT. 
 
 T HE Art of Mezzo-tinto (half-tones) although 
 it found its existence originally in Holland 
 and Germany, has, through the centuries 
 become an art purely English. If one excepts the 
 few whose names are associated with its inception 
 and early improvement, there are none whose art 
 during the last two hundred years, stands out by 
 comparison with the work as such men as McArdell, 
 Say, Dickinson, Walker, Valentine Green, J. R. 
 Smith and the brothers Ward, and others equally 
 prominently associated with the eighteenth century; 
 or with Charles Turner, S. W. Reynolds and 
 Samuel Cousins of more recent date. But at first, 
 to give a glance at its earliest introduction, we 
 have to turn to the pages of Dutch history. 
 
 Ludwig von Siegen, a Dutchman, serving as an 
 officer under the Landgrave of Hesse, was the 
 originator of the process, and in 1642, some twelve 
 years before its appearance in England, executed a 
 portrait of the Regent Mother, Amelia Elizabeth. 
 The groundwork of this plate, several impressions of 
 which may be seen in the British Museum, was very 
 lightly made, and in the engraver’s own words 
 “only a few prints could be made because of the 
 extreme delicacy of the plate.” For several years 
 Van Siegen kept his discovery a secret, during 
 that time executing several plates. 
 
MONA LISA— from the Mezzotint printed in 
 Colours by F. G. Stevenson after Leonardo 
 da Vinci published by H. C. Dickins 26 Regent 
 Street, London. 
 
Twelve years later, in 1654, he taught his art (at 
 Brussels) to Prince Rupert, the versatile son of 
 Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia. The Prince was 
 greatly attracted by the invention and soon mastered 
 it’s technical difficulties, executing his own great plate 
 of the Executioner in 1658. While on a visit to 
 England, Prince Rupert shewed his secret to John 
 Evelyn, and allowed him to use one of his plates as 
 a frontispiece to his work on engraving. From that 
 date mezzotint became firmly established in England, 
 and some twenty years after was generally known as 
 44 La Maniere Anglaise.” 
 
 As the art of engraving in stipple had become the 
 peculiar forte of the engravers of Italy; Germany, the 
 home of the best of the early line engravers, and as 
 France had produced the most delicate of reproductive 
 etchers, so England has gradually improved, monop- 
 olised and perfected the simplest and yet most 
 perfect of all the engraving arts, superior to any of 
 the others in its exquisite softness of tone, and 
 smoothness of grain. 
 
MEZZOTINT OF THE 
 GEORGIAN PERIOD. 
 
 A great deal of the perfection which Mezzotint 
 has attained since its earliest date, is due 
 to the progress which was made by the 
 engravers of the eighteenth century. Patronised and 
 encouraged by such men as Sir Joshua Reynolds, 
 John Hoppner, Thos. Gainsborough, Sir Thos. 
 Lawrence, and the other great masters of the 
 English revival, the engravers of that period were 
 alw’ays busily emplo}'ed. In the days when photo- 
 graphy was still unknown, the desire for presen- 
 tation portraits of important personages, brought 
 work steadily to the engravers. At that date they 
 worked under many disadvantages which to-day 
 have been minimised by the experience they have 
 gained. The preparation of the copper plates was 
 not carefully studied, and the hammering process 
 of to-day, which renders the copper plates so much 
 firmer to resist the wear, strain, and pressure of 
 the printing-press, was comparatively unknown, the 
 plates, in consequence, being literally worn out 
 when an edition of but thirty proofs had been taken. 
 Even with so small an edition, two guineas was an 
 exceptional price for an impression, and most ot 
 the fine old prints were originally offered to the 
 public by the engravers themselves at from fifteen 
 to twenty-five shillings, including the best plates 
 of the famous J. R. Smith. 
 
THE PRINTS IN COLOURS OF 
 YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY. 
 
 G ENERALLY speaking, prints in mezzotint 
 in colours were not appreciated until within 
 quite recent date. This reason for their early 
 unpopularity is not far to seek. In the early days, 
 even at such small prices as were then the rule, 
 mezzotints appealed to a very small circle of 
 collectors, or the owners of the original pictures 
 themselves. The first states having been printed, 
 left the plates as we have already seen, much the 
 worse for wear, and then the plates were used 
 again, proofs being pulled in colours as they were 
 found to shew less the decay of the engraved 
 surface. In comparison with the black-and-white 
 proofs of the day they were necessarily much 
 inferior, and accepted, no doubt, with that relative 
 distinction of work which we to-day place between 
 a fine signed proof and an ordinary print state 
 with the title engraved. 
 
 From the methods of yesterday let us now turn 
 our attention to the work that is being done to-day. 
 If one excludes the historic interest, and the dignity 
 of colour tone that age alone can give, the modern 
 mezzotint work of such men as F. G. Stevenson, 
 E. Gulland, H. Sedcole, and others, apart from its 
 interest as the revival of a very beautiful art, has 
 this one great advantage — their work is engraved 
 in mezzotint exclusively with the object of printing 
 
MRS. SCOTT MONCRIEFF-from the Mezzotint 
 printed in Colours by E. Gulland after Sir H. 
 Raeburn published by H. C. Dickins 26 Regent 
 Street, London. 
 
proofs in colour. This is an all important 
 point, as we shall see later in watching the 
 progress of a plate, and will give to the best work 
 of to-day a position in the future which cannot be 
 compared with the relative position occupied by the 
 old colour-prints to-day. 
 
 The sombre tones of a Rembrandt, the rich bro- 
 cades of a Vandyck, the simple and dignified tones 
 of the Italian Masters of the Renaissance, the 
 wonderful richness of colours in the little Masters 
 of the Dutch and German Schools, the artificial 
 luxury and the gaiety of the French Masters of the 
 eighteenth century, and the quiet refinement of the 
 works of the English School of the same period, 
 are all capable of their best translation in that 
 wonderful smooth evengrained surface that a well 
 ground plate affords. 
 
THE MAKING OF THE PLATE. 
 
 LAYING THE GROUND. 
 
 T HE plate is of copper, and has first been 
 strengthened by being continually hammered 
 until the requisite hardness best suited to 
 the artist for the particular subject he has in hand 
 to engrave has been obtained. The “ground” is 
 then laid. That is to say, a hand tool, called a 
 rocker, is worked upon the smooth surface of the 
 copper plate in all directions. The tool, which has 
 hard metal teeth, not unlike a comb, roughens the 
 copper, giving it an uneven surface, appearing when 
 viewed through a glass not unlike a field very 
 evenly ploughed. This is a tedious process of 
 weeks of steady application, and the fineness or 
 breadth of the “ground” has to be carefully judged 
 by the mezzotinter, according to the quality of 
 surface which his subject may require. For example, 
 the fine work necessary in a plate of the Italian 
 school would need a delicate and close “ground,” 
 the work of strength and breadth which we see in 
 the best of Hoppner’s or Raeburn’s pictures has need 
 of a wider, broader, and more atmospheric grain. 
 
 At this stage the outline of the subject in hand has 
 to be drawn to scale upon the plate. Not a little 
 difficulty presents itself here, as will be readily seen, 
 the mezzotint having to be engraved the opposite 
 way round, in order that the plate may reproduce 
 the subject in the same position as the original. 
 
THE PLATE IN PROGRESS. 
 
 T HE drawing is now completed, and the work 
 of scraping begins. From absolute blackness 
 “ ground ” is gradually scraped away up 
 through half-tones to “light.” The “ high-lights ” 
 being scraped to most perfection reveal the surface 
 of the plate smooth and shining. The hand scraping 
 upon the hardened metal is very lengthy, requiring 
 exquisite patience and knowledge of draughtman- 
 ship — and it is here that the perfection of the 
 mezzotinter’s art lies. The amount of scraping for 
 the best rendering of the required colour effects has 
 also to be carefully judged, as a mistake may entail 
 the laying of a fresh “ground.” In order that the 
 copper may hold the colour to the best advantage 
 a plate is not so highly finished as it would be 
 were black-and-white proofs to be the final state. 
 As an instance of this the destroyed proofs of most 
 of Mr. Stevenson’s engravings, which are to be seen 
 in the New York Library, and also the original plate 
 of his “ Maid of Honour,” after Peyronneau, show 
 excellently the state beyond which it is dangerous 
 to go. 
 
 While scraping continues an occasional trial proof 
 is pulled by the engraver and the more delicate 
 details, such as the rounding of a cheek or the 
 expression of an eye, are perfected ; this accomplish- 
 ed to the engraver’s satisfaction the plate is ready 
 to be proved in colours. 
 
The above illustrates the first stage of the 
 mezzotinters work. It is the pencil drawing 
 from the original picture, drawn to the scale 
 required by the size of the plate. 
 
THE PRINTER’S ART. 
 
 LAYING THE COLOURS. 
 
 A LTHOUGH the foregoing short note on the 
 progress of a plate pretends but to give a 
 broad and simple view of the mezzotinter’s 
 art, there are many more delicate and technical 
 points which have been omitted, as they are 
 largely practices and specialities of each individual 
 engraver, based on his own experiences and best 
 suited to his own artistic taste. The same remarks 
 apply in some degree to the manner of printing. 
 But in both of these matters the differences do 
 not affect the methods adopted in the main and 
 are the subject of study for the connoisseur, rather 
 than the casual amateur. 
 
 The copper plate is now ready to print. Having 
 been thoroughly cleaned of the wax, used to keep 
 the copper free from atmospheric effects, it is 
 placed on a small stove kept at an even and 
 moderate heat ; the colours required for use in the 
 printing are carefully mixed up on a palette with 
 a preparation of boiled oil, just as in painting. The 
 plate now well warmed, is first covered all over 
 with a ground colour of a tone of brown black or 
 grey ink as may be required by the lightness or 
 heaviness of the subject to be printed, or by 
 the condition of the scraping of the plate. This is 
 afterwards carefully wiped away and cleaned off, 
 leaving only a very little ground colour still in the 
 
deeper furrows of the less scraped parts. The 
 colours are then each applied carefully in the same 
 way and wiped out again as the experience of the 
 artist-printer may decide. The plate, all this time 
 being kept warm, the colours are kept moist and 
 prevented from drying. After the larger surfaces 
 have been treated, much care has to be taken in 
 the details and small colourings, such as the face, 
 eyes, mouth, details of ornament, and the artist’s 
 skill is brought into most play here in judging 
 when he has the effect he desires, a by no means 
 easy matter when the canvas, so to speak, is a 
 bright shining metal. The finer details are generally 
 painted on the plate with a fine brush or stumping 
 pencil, it is again thoroughly cleaned with fine 
 cloths, silks, and finally the palm of the hand, and 
 is now ready for the printer’s press. 
 
 PULLING THE PROOF. 
 
 T HE plate is now laid face upwards upon the 
 bed of the press, and the paper which is to 
 receive the impression — having previously 
 been dampened — is laid upon its face. 
 
 The hand press is set in motion and the plate and 
 paper pass slowly under the rollers which are 
 covered with very thick blanketing. The great 
 pressure forces the paper into the plate and the 
 coloured inks are transferred — giving one im- 
 pression. 
 
 The same trouble and care must be given to 
 
each proot, the plate being cleaned and prepared de 
 novo for every impression of the edition. Simple 
 as this may sound, it is, in fact, a most difficult, 
 and uncertain process. How often a slight 
 
 uncertainty produces appalling results ; a smeared 
 cheek, a squinting eye, a hard mouth, an over 
 lapping of some colour here, the want of it there ; 
 and until the artist-printer has proved to a nicety 
 the strength and weakness of his plate, the results 
 are time after time unsatisfactory and defective. 
 
 So many things come into consideration in the 
 matter of printing which would escape the notice 
 of all but the experienced, and one of the most 
 trying of all is that of the daylight. One day it is 
 bright, one day it is dull, and when viewed together 
 the impressions taken on each day are quite 
 different, and probably in so marked a degree that 
 at least one of them will be quite useless. How 
 many people ever think of the actual number of 
 proofs pulled, before a small edition of one hundred 
 and fifty perfect proofs are ready for distribution ? 
 
 The edition being now pulled, the plate is scarred 
 across to be rendered useless, some rough proofs 
 are pulled in black-and-white, as evidence of its 
 destruction, and the plate passes into the limbo of 
 forgotten things. 
 
 A.C.D. 
 
L’ENVOI. 
 
 The foregoing short notes, to help those who are 
 collectors to a more ready understanding of the 
 art of mezzotint and the methods of colour printing, 
 will, it is hoped, have served in some measure to 
 show the difficulties which have to be surmounted 
 before a finished proof is put before them ; and will 
 help them to better appreciate how deserving of a 
 real success is a process so artistic and delicate. 
 The work of an engraver and printer who can 
 overcome all these difficulties and produce a beau- 
 tiful piece of colour work such as we have seen 
 from time to time during the past few years, must 
 live. And there is no room to doubt, when the 
 more interesting facts in this artistic production 
 become more widely known, the permanent and 
 high position which this beautiful process will 
 occupy among the arts of the future. 
 
STEPHEN T. GREEN, 
 
 ALBION BUILDINGS, ALDERSGATE ST., E.C.