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Mezzotinto Engraving

So called from the circumstance that the subjects treated by this method in the earliest period after its invention, were such as admitted of a large amount of middle-tint or half-tone in the distribution of the masses of light and dark; it being then believed that such only were suited to this style of art. The process is of the utmost simplicity, and as the best general idea of it may be obtained from the anecdote related of what suggested the invention, it is perhaps advisable to begin by repeating the story, whether founded on fact or not.

Prince Rupert, to whom its origin is popularly attributed, is said to have taken the idea from observing a soldier in camp polishing a rusty sword. The rust had been, on some parts of the blade, entirely removed, while on others it remained in all its original roughness, and in some portions the polishing was half done. This accident suggested that a rapid and effective style of engraving might result, if a metal plate were roughened all over its surface by some means, so that it would take secure hold of a coating of plate-printers' ink when applied, and then, being again removed by grinding, or scraping, or burnishing wherever the middle tints and lights of the picture required, would thus retain the printers' ink just in proportion to the degree of such removal. Where the plate was polished bright, the ink would readily wipe clean away, and in printing leave the paper unstained, forming the high lights of the picture, while in the parts where the roughening was left the ink would refuse to wipe away, and thus would print the extreme darks of the picture. Such was the pound Italian term, signifying middle-tint, took a permanent and respected position among the arts.

So it is already seen that the operation of mezzotinto engraving is exactly the reverse of every other kind, being from dark to light; as in drawing a picture by means of white chalk on black paper, or by taking a panel of light-colored wood, and having charred with fire the whole surface to blackness, scrape this away again in various degrees of completeness in such manner as to present the lights and shadows of a picture.

The contrivance first used for producing the roughened surface on the copper-plate, termed the mezzotinto ground, was a wooden roller, in which were securely fixed multitudes of steel points, sharp ends outwards. This was rolled over the plate with moderate pressure, backwards and forwards in every direction, until no particle of the original polished surface remained unpunctured by a dot. But the difficulty presented itself of there being no means of sharpening the steel points when they broke off, or were worn dull by repeated use. Consequently there was substituted, in place of the roller, the instrument called the rocker, or cradle-tool, or more properly the grounding tool, which continues in use to the present day, notwithstanding its obvious imperfections, for it can easily be sharpened when dull, lasts a long time, and nothing better has yet been thought of.

The grounding tool is made in form like a broad chisel, two inches wide, cut all over one side with grooved straight lines parallel to each other, exactly equi-distant and of equal depth. These run lengthwise on the tool, so that when the end is sharpened to a bevel, they form a saw-like edge of teeth. The toothed edge being sharpened to a curved shape, the tool is held in a nearly upright position, its teeth resting on the plate, and is rocked from side to side, advancing forward with a slightly zigzag motion. The handle, attached to a shank at the upper end, is firmly grasped, the wrist being kept stiff. The elbow rests on the table as a pivot of the motion. Guide-lines are drawn on the plate with a pencil or charcoal against a ruler, parallel to each other, and not quite so wide apart as the breadth of the tool.

The grounding tool is then held in the position described, not quite upright, but slightly inclined forwards, the middle of the tool midway between the lines, and the elbow in place so that an imaginary line between it and the tool is in the same direction as the pencil guide-lines on the plate.

The rocking motion is then made with moderate pressure, stopping on each side as nearly on the guide--line as possible, great care being observed to avoid digging in the corner of the tool by rocking too wide a line, and also to avoid rocking repeatedly in the same place, thus making a deep irremediable cut. Having continued this operation until all the spaces between the lines have been rocked through, what is termed one way has been completed. Precisely the same operation is repeated with the guide-lines in another direction, and then in another, and so on until a full black ground has been produced, which is when every particle of the original polish has disappeared.

It is well to make a scale to assist in varying the direction of the ways, such as a half circle of paper with lines drawn on it radiating to the circumference, like the spokes of a wheel; the straight edge of the paper being laid against the edge of the plate, the ruler is laid against one of the lines as a guide for the direction about to be worked.

The outline of the intended picture is then raised part.

To Prepare Box-wood for Engraving.

The wood being chosen, and cut into a proper form and size, it must be planed as evenly and truly as possible, and will be then ready to receive the made on the ground, either by sketching it deli- | in the wooden blocks they are delivered from the cately with the end of the burnisher, using it as a pencil, aided by division squares; or by transferring an outline previously drawn upon paper, on to the plate by means of the copper-plate roller press. The entire effect is next obtained by scraping away the ground to various degrees of lightness, scraping it entirely away only where the highest lights of the picture are, and leaving it totally unscraped only where the extreme darks All the sudden bright lights of the picture are made with the burnisher, and also the pure are. white lights are finished with it. The scraper used is a simple band of steel, about of an inch wide, and not quite thin enough to spring or bend in using, sharpened lancet-like towards the end where it is applied to the plate, both edges being used. It is, when new, 4 or 5 inches long, and is employed without a handle. A correct judgment of the progress of the work can only be had by occasionally procuring a proof of the plate from the printer, during the progress.

As the plate almost always yields an impression darker than would be expected, the engraver is not apt to scrape his tints too light, but if this should happen, the tint must be replaced by means of the grounding tool. To do this it is only necessary to lay what is termed a gauze ground over the part requiring renewal; that is, a ground composed of but from five to seven crossings, seldom more. Then scrape away again delicately to the proper degree of lightness. If a light form should have been inadvertently extended too far over on to its adjoining tint, the defect may be corrected by puncturing a few rows of dots by means of the rulette, a tool resembling a horseman's spur, only on a minute scale, and then delicately removing the burr raised with a very sharp scraper.

The foregoing description is of mezzotinto pure and simple, but it has become the practice of late years to aid and support it largely by a foundation of etching, in lines and dots. This is all done on the plate before commencing the mezzotinto ground. The process is described under its proper head. The drawing of the outline on the plate with the burnisher is then rendered unnecessary, as the etched forms are faintly visible through the ground.

The field of application of this style of engraving has been immensely widened since the introduction to the engravers' use of plates of annealed or softened steel, which occurred about the year 1820, or a little earlier. Previous to that, copper had been the metal in use from the time of Tomaso Finiguerra, the Florentine goldsmith, who, in 1460, invented the important art of plate-printing.

Mezzotinto engraving was invented in the earlier part of the seventeenth century, most probably by Ludwig von Siegen, an officer in the service of the Landgrave of Hesse. There is a portrait print by him in this style extant, of Amelia Elizabetha, Princess of Hesse, dated 1643.