Mezzotint

Mezzotint was invented in the 18th century in England, at a time when reproduction engraving was widespread. It allows for half-tones, transparencies and shades to be used to graphically reproduce the works of the great masters. It was later replaced by photographic techniques. Currently, there are only a few engravers who use mezzotint in an artistic manner, since it is a long and complicated procedure.

The mezzotint technique is based on a smooth copper plate onto which a preparation is carried out with a tool called rocker invented by Blooteling. This is a small steel blade with a curved edge and sharp pointed ends. It has a central handle and it is rocked on the plate with a waving movement, so as to leave small dots on the copper like those created in drypoint. The plate is ready when there is no more space left out by this tool.
Once finished, the dots that are to be white or in shades of grey are smoothened using a burnisher or a scraper in order to flatten the filaments produced by the rocker.
The number of copies that can be obtained with this technique is very small, hardly ever more than fifty.