DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20658#0348
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BOOK IV,
OF MEZZOTINTO AND AQUA-TINTA,
CHAP. I.
OF MEZZOTINTO SCRAPING.
PRINCE RUPERT (son of the titular king of Bohemia, and nephew of the unfortunate
Charles I.) is generally reported to have been the inventor of this art, and is said to have
received the idea from seeing a soldier polish his rusty arms with a file. But Baron Heinikin^
a very judicious and accurate writer upon the subject of engraving, asserts with great appearance
of truth, that it was a Lieutenant-colonel De Siegan, an officer in the service of the Landgrave
of Hesse, who first engraved in this manner; and that the print which he produced was a
portrait of the Princess Amelia Elizabeth of Hesse, engraved in the year 1643. From the
writings however of the best informed upon this subject we find that Prince Rupert learned the
secret from that gentleman, and brought it into England when he came over the second time
with Charles II. His print of an executioner holding a sword in one hand and a head in the
other (a half-length from Spagnoletto) is dated 1658. This art has never been cultivated with
success in any country but England, and is one among the many valuable improvements in art
which owes its present state of perfection to the fostered genius of Britain.
Prince Rupert, though so early in the art, succeeded better than many of his followers. He
laid his ground with a channelled roller, upon the same principle as the present grounding-tool;
but Sherwin about the same time laid his grounds with a half-round file, which was pressed
down with a heavy piece of lead. Both these grounding-tools have been laid aside for many
years, and the present grounding-tool introduced which, in its form resembles a shoemaker's
cutting-board knife, with a fine crenelling on the edge. This was the invention of Edial a smith
by trade, who afterwards became a mezzotinto printer.
This art merits attention from the facility with which it is performed and its beautiful and
soft effect. The operator rakes, hatches, or punches the surface of the plate all over with the
instrument made for that purpose, first one way and then the other, across, &c till the surface
of the plate be thus entirely furrowed with dots; close and as it were contiguous to each other;
so that if an impression was then taken from the plate it would be one uniform blot or smut,
The design is then drawn or marked on the same face ; after which with burnishers, scrapers, &c.
the artist proceeds to expunge and take out the dents or furrows, in all the parts where the lights
of the piece are to be thrown; scraping it more or less, as the lights are to be stronger or
fainter; and leaving those parts black which are to represent the shadows or deepenings of
the draught. The
BOOK IV,
OF MEZZOTINTO AND AQUA-TINTA,
CHAP. I.
OF MEZZOTINTO SCRAPING.
PRINCE RUPERT (son of the titular king of Bohemia, and nephew of the unfortunate
Charles I.) is generally reported to have been the inventor of this art, and is said to have
received the idea from seeing a soldier polish his rusty arms with a file. But Baron Heinikin^
a very judicious and accurate writer upon the subject of engraving, asserts with great appearance
of truth, that it was a Lieutenant-colonel De Siegan, an officer in the service of the Landgrave
of Hesse, who first engraved in this manner; and that the print which he produced was a
portrait of the Princess Amelia Elizabeth of Hesse, engraved in the year 1643. From the
writings however of the best informed upon this subject we find that Prince Rupert learned the
secret from that gentleman, and brought it into England when he came over the second time
with Charles II. His print of an executioner holding a sword in one hand and a head in the
other (a half-length from Spagnoletto) is dated 1658. This art has never been cultivated with
success in any country but England, and is one among the many valuable improvements in art
which owes its present state of perfection to the fostered genius of Britain.
Prince Rupert, though so early in the art, succeeded better than many of his followers. He
laid his ground with a channelled roller, upon the same principle as the present grounding-tool;
but Sherwin about the same time laid his grounds with a half-round file, which was pressed
down with a heavy piece of lead. Both these grounding-tools have been laid aside for many
years, and the present grounding-tool introduced which, in its form resembles a shoemaker's
cutting-board knife, with a fine crenelling on the edge. This was the invention of Edial a smith
by trade, who afterwards became a mezzotinto printer.
This art merits attention from the facility with which it is performed and its beautiful and
soft effect. The operator rakes, hatches, or punches the surface of the plate all over with the
instrument made for that purpose, first one way and then the other, across, &c till the surface
of the plate be thus entirely furrowed with dots; close and as it were contiguous to each other;
so that if an impression was then taken from the plate it would be one uniform blot or smut,
The design is then drawn or marked on the same face ; after which with burnishers, scrapers, &c.
the artist proceeds to expunge and take out the dents or furrows, in all the parts where the lights
of the piece are to be thrown; scraping it more or less, as the lights are to be stronger or
fainter; and leaving those parts black which are to represent the shadows or deepenings of
the draught. The