DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20658#0350
336
MEZZOTINTO,
above twenty times, beginning to pass the cradle again betwixt the first lines, and proceeding
in the same manner through all the rest. The plate being thus prepared with a proper ground,
the sketch of the design or outline must be chalked on it, by rubbing the back of the paper or
drawing with chalk, and tracing the outline with a pointer as in etching. It is also proper to
overtrace it afterwards with black lead or Indian ink, to have a more distinct and permanent
sketch. But for most subjects etching has a fine and spirited effect, particularly in foliage,
drapery, &c. Previous to laying a mezzotinto ground, an etching ground of wax being laid
on the plate, the parts to be etched are clone with a needle in the usual manner, and bitten in
rather deep; then remove the wax and lay the mezzotinto ground as above. The scraping is
then performed by paring or scraping away the grain of the ground in various degrees, so that
none of it is left in the original state, except in the touches of the strongest shade. The general
method of proceeding is similar to that of drawing with white upon black paper. The masses
of the strongest light are first begun with and scraped pretty smooth ; and some parts where
there is no shade, as the tip of the nose, &c. are burnished, and those parts which go off into
light in their upper part, but are brown below. The next lower gradations of shade are then
scraped down, after which the reflections are entered upon : the plate is next to be blackened
with a printer's blacking ball made of felt, in order to discover the effect: and then the work is
proceeded with again, observing always to begin every part in the places where the strongest
lights are to be introduced. The etching will now appear to advantage by clearing the dark
part; producing a brilliancy and crispness where otherways it would be fiat and smutty. Great
care must be taken to introduce it judiciously, particularly in the lights.
J. C. LeBlon, of Frankfort, pupil of Carlo Maratti, applied this art to the method of printing
with different colours, to produce the resemblance of paintings. He considered all colours as
composed of three primitive ones: the combination of two of these he asserted would produce
a third, such as their compound must necessarily give, and the two primitive colours would
preserve their original colour: but if transparent colours be mixed, and three primitive ones
combined together, they destroy each other and produce a black, or a colour approaching
towards it, in proportion to the equality or inequality of the mixture: and if these three colours
be laid either separately or upon each other, by three plates engraved correspondently on these
principles, to the colouring of the design, the whole variety of tints necessary may be produced.
The requisites therefore to the execution of any design in this method of printing are the fol-
lowing:— 1. To settle a plan of the colouring to be imitated, shewing where the presence of each
of the three simple colours is necessary, either in its pure state or combined with some other,
to produce the effect required; and to reduce this plan to a painted sketch of each, in which
not only the proper outlines, but the degree of strength should be expressed. 2. To engrave
three plates according to this plan, which may print, each of the colours exactly in the places
where, and in the proportion in which they are wanted. 3. To find three transparent substances
proper for printing with these three primitive colours. The manner in which Mr. Le Blon pre-
pared the plates was as follows;—The three plates of copper were first well fitted, with respect
to size and figure, to each other, and grounded in the same manner as those designed for mezzo-
tinto prints : and the exact place and boundary of each of the three primitive colours, conform-
ably to the design, were sketched out on three papers, answering in dimensions to the plate.
These sketches were then chalked on the plates; and all the parts of each plate that
were
MEZZOTINTO,
above twenty times, beginning to pass the cradle again betwixt the first lines, and proceeding
in the same manner through all the rest. The plate being thus prepared with a proper ground,
the sketch of the design or outline must be chalked on it, by rubbing the back of the paper or
drawing with chalk, and tracing the outline with a pointer as in etching. It is also proper to
overtrace it afterwards with black lead or Indian ink, to have a more distinct and permanent
sketch. But for most subjects etching has a fine and spirited effect, particularly in foliage,
drapery, &c. Previous to laying a mezzotinto ground, an etching ground of wax being laid
on the plate, the parts to be etched are clone with a needle in the usual manner, and bitten in
rather deep; then remove the wax and lay the mezzotinto ground as above. The scraping is
then performed by paring or scraping away the grain of the ground in various degrees, so that
none of it is left in the original state, except in the touches of the strongest shade. The general
method of proceeding is similar to that of drawing with white upon black paper. The masses
of the strongest light are first begun with and scraped pretty smooth ; and some parts where
there is no shade, as the tip of the nose, &c. are burnished, and those parts which go off into
light in their upper part, but are brown below. The next lower gradations of shade are then
scraped down, after which the reflections are entered upon : the plate is next to be blackened
with a printer's blacking ball made of felt, in order to discover the effect: and then the work is
proceeded with again, observing always to begin every part in the places where the strongest
lights are to be introduced. The etching will now appear to advantage by clearing the dark
part; producing a brilliancy and crispness where otherways it would be fiat and smutty. Great
care must be taken to introduce it judiciously, particularly in the lights.
J. C. LeBlon, of Frankfort, pupil of Carlo Maratti, applied this art to the method of printing
with different colours, to produce the resemblance of paintings. He considered all colours as
composed of three primitive ones: the combination of two of these he asserted would produce
a third, such as their compound must necessarily give, and the two primitive colours would
preserve their original colour: but if transparent colours be mixed, and three primitive ones
combined together, they destroy each other and produce a black, or a colour approaching
towards it, in proportion to the equality or inequality of the mixture: and if these three colours
be laid either separately or upon each other, by three plates engraved correspondently on these
principles, to the colouring of the design, the whole variety of tints necessary may be produced.
The requisites therefore to the execution of any design in this method of printing are the fol-
lowing:— 1. To settle a plan of the colouring to be imitated, shewing where the presence of each
of the three simple colours is necessary, either in its pure state or combined with some other,
to produce the effect required; and to reduce this plan to a painted sketch of each, in which
not only the proper outlines, but the degree of strength should be expressed. 2. To engrave
three plates according to this plan, which may print, each of the colours exactly in the places
where, and in the proportion in which they are wanted. 3. To find three transparent substances
proper for printing with these three primitive colours. The manner in which Mr. Le Blon pre-
pared the plates was as follows;—The three plates of copper were first well fitted, with respect
to size and figure, to each other, and grounded in the same manner as those designed for mezzo-
tinto prints : and the exact place and boundary of each of the three primitive colours, conform-
ably to the design, were sketched out on three papers, answering in dimensions to the plate.
These sketches were then chalked on the plates; and all the parts of each plate that
were