![]() A rocker resembles a very broad flat chisel with an arced edge. The process begins by texturing the plate with a tool called a rocker. For this reason the technique lends itself to images demanding rich black or extensive tonal passages. The plate is then selectively scraped and burnished to create smoother areas that will not hold ink, allowing the artist to work progressively from dark to light. Mezzotint is an intaglio medium in which the artist begins with a heavily textured plate that prints a solid black. For a bibliography of sources related to mezzotint, see the link to the Print Council of America Web site below.)įall of Babylon from Illustrations from the Bible, 1835 (For a complete history of mezzotint, see the link to the National Portrait Gallery Web site below. Specifically, in this type of intaglio (nonrelief) print, subtle gradations of light and shade, rather than lines, form the image. A mezzotint–from the Italian mezzo ("half") and tinta ("tone")–presents halftones. ![]() A high level of quality and richness in the print can be achieved.ĭefinition: La manière noire ("the dark manner") Mezzotint achieves tonality by roughening the plate with thousands of little dots made by a metal tool with small teeth, called a "rocker." In printing, the tiny pits in the plate hold the ink when the face of the plate is wiped clean. It was the first tonal method to be used, enabling half-tones to be produced without using line- or dot-based techniques like hatching, cross-hatching or stipple. ![]() Mezzotint is a printmaking process of the intaglio family, technically a drypoint method.
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