in/ormafion, mar 
 
 
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Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2019 with funding from 
 Getty Research Institute 
 
 https://archive.org/details/mezzotintoengravOOunse 
 

 
 
 
 
Geo. Romney 
 
 Henry Meyer 
 
 laUj) Hamilton 
 
 as Nature 
 
MEZZOTINTO ENGRAVING 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 J®. fenoebler & Co, 
 
 FIFTH AVE. & 34TH ST. 
 MCMVI 
 
PUBLISHED BY 
 
 j&nocfcler & Co., 
 
 355 FIFTH AVENUE, N. Y. 
 
 COPYRIGHT MCMVI 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 This little pamphlet is intended for those 
 who are interested in old Mezzotint En¬ 
 gravers and their works, but who have only a 
 slight knowledge of them; it describes in a 
 general way how the plates and prints are 
 made, and gives such information as may 
 prove useful to those who are making, or in¬ 
 tending to make, a collection of prints in 
 black and in color. 
 
 It is conceded that Ludwig Von Siegen, Justarp 
 who resided at Amsterdam in 1642, dis- 
 covered and completed in the month of 
 August of that year, a portrait of Amelia 
 Elizabeth, Dowager Landgravine of J^Birnta 
 Hesse, in mezzotint, this being the first ^ on 
 engraving of the kind known. In 1654 
 this engraver met Prince Rupert at Brus¬ 
 sels, and to him confided his secret. 
 
 3 
 
IjMStorp, 
 
 etc. 
 
 (canttnueU) 
 
 Prince Rupert afterwards disclosed it to 
 Wallerant Vaillant and to Evelyn and 
 Sherwin when he was in England. Theo¬ 
 dore Caspara Fustenbergh was also an¬ 
 other artist who obtained the knowledge, 
 for there is a work by him dated the same 
 year as the first one by Prince Rupert 
 (1656). The art then passed from one to 
 another, there being engravings by men 
 who flourished during the latter half of 
 the 17th century, among them John 
 Thomas, called Thomas of Ypres (his 
 earliest mezzotint is dated 1658) ; John 
 Fredrich Leonard, 1669; John Van Somer, 
 1668; J. Vander Brugen, 1681. In 1668 
 Prince Rupert went to England, and 
 nine years afterwards, • in the hands of 
 William Sherwin, the development of the 
 new mezzotinto engraving began in the 
 country where it was destined to rise to 
 its highest state. Sherwin’s first print is 
 dated 1669. There were a number of en¬ 
 gravers at this period who were success¬ 
 ful in producing good work, the most 
 noted being Place, Gascar, Blootelling, 
 Valck, and J. Smith. At the opening of 
 
 4 
 
the 18th century J. Smith was the foremost 
 artist in mezzotinto engraving. When 
 this style of art had become concentrated 
 in England, artists flocked there from 
 other countries; from France, J. Simon, 
 who was considered the rival of Smith; 
 the elder Faber, from Flolland. A little 
 later other engravers changed their style 
 from line to mezzotinto, such as young 
 Faber, G. White and Pelham; the last 
 artist came to America and introduced his 
 art here. In the closing years of the first 
 half of the 18th century mezzotinto en¬ 
 graving declined very much in England, 
 and did not revive until about 1753-54, 
 when new blood was instilled into the 
 practice of the art by the work of artists 
 of the Irish school, such as MacArdell, 
 who engraved the earliest plate from a 
 portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds in 1746, 
 Houston, Purcell, and subsequently 
 Dixon, Fisher, J. Watson, T. Watson, 
 J. R. Smith, Dickinson, Valentine Green, 
 Dean, and Walker. Most of these en¬ 
 gravers became masters of the art, and as 
 the great portrait painters of the English 
 
 etc. 
 
 (conttmteU) 
 
 5 
 
^tdtorp, school lived and flourished at the same 
 etc. time examples by the masters of this 
 
 (conttnucU) P er i°d —Reynolds, Hoppner, Romney, 
 Gainsborough, Ramsay, Abbott, Beechey, 
 Copley, Opie, and Stewart—were copied 
 and engraved, often in the same year that 
 they were painted. These engravings 
 have not naturally deteriorated as time 
 has passed on. This cannot be said of 
 many of the originals, for ink and paper 
 are more enduring than canvas and paint. 
 It would seem as if the artist-engravers, 
 stimulated by the extraordinary power of 
 the painters of this period, had been en¬ 
 abled to surpass in their art for the pur¬ 
 pose of transcribing in all their entirety 
 the pictures they imitated. To quote a 
 remark made by Sir Joshua, after he had 
 seen a fine engraving by MacArdell after 
 one of his paintings: “By this man I shall 
 be immortalised/’ Other engravers at 
 this period worthy of notice were P. 
 Dawe, Dunkarton, Grozer, Hodges, Hud¬ 
 son, Jones, Judkins, Laurie, Duponte, the 
 nephew of Gainsborough; Haward and 
 Spilsbury. There were less-known paint- 
 
 6 
 
ers, such as Wright of Derby and Van 
 Huysum, after whose pictures Earlom 
 and Pether engraved some remarkably 
 brilliant and effective prints. It seems 
 but natural to believe that in possessing 
 and studying works by these masters of 
 mezzotinto engraving we are enabled 
 more thoroughly to live in the time of the 
 painters and understand their works more 
 perfectly, and at the same time to nour¬ 
 ish and improve our taste. Although no 
 living engraver can compete in excellence 
 with the great mezzotint engravers of the 
 latter part of the eighteenth century, 
 England possessed, till 1887, one who 
 was almost as great as any of those; 
 namely, Samuel Cousins. Born in 1801, 
 his transcripts of Lawrence and Land¬ 
 seer’s paintings are works of the highest 
 art. The following is a partial list of the 
 prominent and less noted engravers, not 
 mentioned above, who flourished at the 
 end of the 18th, and beginning of the 
 19th, century: Barney, J. Ward, W 1 
 Ward, Young, G. Dawe, H. Meyer, C. 
 Turner, G. Clint, S. W. Reynolds, H. 
 
 {flfiitarp, 
 
 etc. 
 
 (continue!!) 
 
 7 
 
|)t£itorp, 
 etc. 
 
 (continued) 
 
 Dawe, W. Say, T. Lupton, and T. Hodg- 
 etts. 
 
 (For much of the above information we are 
 indebted to the writings of John Chaloner 
 Smith and Dr. Edward Hamilton.) 
 
 8 
 
The instruments used in mezzotinto en¬ 
 graving consist of the cradle or rocking- 
 tool, the scraper, the roulette and the 
 burnisher. 
 
 The plates intended for engraving should 
 be of the best copper. 
 
 Cools! 
 
 anO 
 
 ^Hctal 
 
 9 
 
The Engine 
 
 =<Sevtrail - 
 
 10 
 
 <ZTl)p Cools ttscli tn JHe^ottnt ®ng;raOin£ tn 1688 
 
Sir Joshua Reynolds J. R. Smith 
 
 Lafip Catherine JjJelljam Clinton 
 
Mezzotinto is executed by covering the ^Hc^ottnta 
 surface of the plate, using the cradle or 
 rocking-tool, with lines sunk in it so close 
 to each other, in many different direc¬ 
 tions, that, if printed, it would give a 
 black impression ground from the whole. 
 
 When this work is completed, the sub¬ 
 ject is traced, and the work is commenced 
 by scraping and then burnishing the 
 highest lights, after which the secondary 
 tones are scraped away, and so on, pro¬ 
 ceeding gradually from light to dark, and 
 leaving for the deepest shades the ground 
 untouched. 
 
 A mezzotint plate is the reverse of an 
 etched plate, for in the former the blacks 
 are removed, and the latter they are bit¬ 
 ten in. 
 
 The prepared ink is rubbed into the plate, JJrinttn# 
 and then the surface is wiped off, leaving ut 
 the ink only in the sunken parts. The fclactt 
 plate paper is then placed upon the plate, 
 and it is passed through a heavy copper- 
 
 11 
 
printing; 
 
 in 
 
 3Blarit 
 
 (continueti) 
 
 Printing; 
 
 in 
 
 Colors 
 
 from 
 
 0ne 
 
 Plate 
 
 plate hand-press. This forces the paper 
 into the engraved part of the plate, trans¬ 
 ferring the ink to it. In a mezzotinto 
 plate, the shading is not a solid mass, as 
 can be seen by examining a print with a 
 magnifying glass. There will be found 
 cross lines with the paper showing be¬ 
 tween. This gives a transparency of 
 light and shade which could not be pro¬ 
 duced in any other way. 
 
 The process of printing in colors is the 
 same as printing in black, only different 
 colored inks are rubbed into the plate in 
 their proper places, blending where nec¬ 
 essary, the cleaning and printing being 
 the same as described above. This, one 
 can see, requires an immense amount of 
 artistic knowledge, care and labor, the 
 plate requiring fresh coloring for each im¬ 
 pression. The first record of printing in 
 color is in 1720. The artist’s name was 
 Jacob Le Blond. His print was taken 
 from a mezzotint plate. Since then there 
 
 12 
 
was a gradual improvement until color printing; 
 printing arose to its highest perfection in ux 
 the latter part of the 18th century. Owing (£ 0 j 0 r6 
 to the great amount of care and labor re¬ 
 quired, the art was not practised to any 
 extent in its most perfect form after the 
 first part of the 19th century. 
 
 from 
 
 0ne 
 
 plate 
 
 (continneH) 
 
 The proofs of engravings when approach- States 
 ing completion cannot properly be called 
 states, they are what are called “Engrav¬ 
 er’s Proofs.” When the plate is finished 
 to the satisfaction of both artists, the first 
 impression struck off the plate is an Art¬ 
 ist’s Proof. Each Engraver’s Proof is 
 naturally unique. The usual custom was 
 to publish a number of impressions with 
 etched letters, or before letters. These 
 impressions were called the first published 
 state, then followed the second and third 
 states. But in regard to these states, as 
 a matter of fact, there is no well-defined 
 rule to be applied. It is impossible within 
 
 13 
 
States the limits of a few paragraphs to convey 
 (conttntteiO any exact knowledge on so diffuse a sub¬ 
 ject. 
 
 A popular plate was often much abused, 
 able After leaving the hands of the original 
 IDrtnbS publisher (who had taken off what he con¬ 
 sidered as many impressions as the plate 
 would bear), it would come into the pos¬ 
 session of some printseller or publisher 
 less scrupulous, would be retouched, and 
 perhaps renamed, or the lettering all tak¬ 
 en off, and false proofs issued. This was 
 often done by placing a piece of thick 
 paper over the letters during the printing, 
 as well as by erasing the names from the 
 copper. These deceptions have even been 
 tried in present times, not only on the 
 plates, but on the impressions themselves. 
 
 tljc One may ask, why the old mezzotints are 
 ©IH Sire so muc h sought after and why they com- 
 th aft at mand such high prices? The answer is: 
 ^ Because they are the finest and best prod- 
 
 14 
 
ucts of a most beautiful art; that they 
 have improved with time; that they were 
 made at a period when there was less of 
 the commercial spirit prevalent and more 
 of the artistic; that few perfect impres¬ 
 sions were printed, and that, owing to the 
 carelessness of many of the older col¬ 
 lectors, few were preserved without blem¬ 
 ish. It is the perfect print which is nowa¬ 
 days desired and competed for. There¬ 
 fore, in selecting, care should be taken to 
 choose those which are free from blemish 
 and which are brilliant and clear in print¬ 
 ing. It was not considered possible to 
 print more than one hundred perfect im¬ 
 pressions from one plate. Of some beau¬ 
 tiful plates engraved for private individu¬ 
 als and circulation the impressions num¬ 
 bered less than fifty. 
 
 W\)V tlje 
 ©IU &re 
 tlje 3Se6t 
 (contimiea) 
 
 15 
 
As there are a number of methods for 
 grounding a plate, which in their results re¬ 
 semble mezzotint we give herewith descrip¬ 
 tions of those well known and often seen: 
 
 Ctd)tn# A copper plate is prepared and burnished, 
 the same as a mezzotint plate; the sur¬ 
 face of it is covered with a varnish which 
 is not affected by acid. With a pointed 
 instrument called an etching needle, this 
 varnish is cut through, and wherever the 
 copper is uncovered the acid bites. The 
 longer the acid remains upon the plate 
 the deeper the lines will be. Thus one 
 can understand how the lights and darks 
 are made which go to make a picture. 
 
 Potcn A photogravure, as the word suggests, 
 (jratotite is an engraving produced by the aid of 
 photography. The processes of all photo¬ 
 engraving primarily depends upon the fact 
 that when soluble gelatine is mixed with 
 bichromate of potash and exposed to the 
 light it becomes insoluble. 
 
 To produce a photogravure then a thin 
 film of bichromatized gelatine is exposed to 
 
 16 
 
0tclnti9; 
 
 Caohs 
 
poto, the light beneath a reversed negative. Under 
 gratmre ^ ie 
 (continue!!) 
 
 under the tones and shadows remain un¬ 
 affected. The film is then transferred to a 
 highly polished copper plate which has been 
 “grounded” with a fine grain of powdered 
 asphalt, dusted evenly over it and fixed 
 by heat. The film is then “developed” by 
 washing in warm water. The soluble gela¬ 
 tine representing the darks is washed away, 
 the insoluble representing the light remains 
 to act as a varying resistant to the etching 
 mordant to whose action the plate is now 
 exposed. The usual mordant is a solution 
 of perchloride of iron and this penetrates 
 the film with comparative ease in those 
 parts representing the shades where there 
 is little or no gelatine and thus bites into 
 the copper and around each infinitesimal 
 grain of asphalt to a considerable depth. In 
 the parts representing the tonal shades, 
 however, where the gelatine is thicker, the 
 mordant penetrates with more and more 
 difficulty leaving the ground in the highest 
 lights practically untouched. 
 
 lights or clearer portions of the reversed 
 ative the film is acted upon by the light 
 rendered insoluble while those portions 
 
Sir Thomas Gainsborough Gainsborough Dupont 
 
 ©Itot princesses 
 
When the biting has, in the judgment of 
 the engraver, proceeded far enough, the 
 gelatine and the asphalt ground are cleaned 
 off and the plate is ready for the printer. 
 
 A solution of resin in spirits of wine is Aquatint 
 poured over the prepared copper plate (Srouitti 
 (prepared the same as for a mezzotint) 
 and drained off at one corner. This mix¬ 
 ture when dry will leave a deposit of 
 resin in minute specks (covering the plate 
 evenly when properly done), which ad¬ 
 here to the plate when slightly heated. 
 
 Acid is then applied; this eats into the 
 spaces around each speck of resin. With 
 a strong magnifying glass one can de¬ 
 tect this process by the shape of the dots. 
 
 The copper plate is coated with oil and Umlpljur- 
 powdered sulphur is dusted over it; this ttnt 
 acts quickly, but the ground is very delir 
 cate and needs to be bitten with acid, 
 otherwise only a few impressions can be 
 obtained. 
 
 The plate is covered with a liquid ground, Isantigrain 
 made by mixing wax gum and resin, the 
 same as in etching. When the plate is 
 
 19 
 
grain held face down over a gas jet this ground 
 (conttnue'fl) becomes mixed with the black smoke from 
 the flame, making a jet black surface 
 which, when dry, will resist acid. A piece 
 of sandpaper is then pressed face down¬ 
 wards into it, leaving little holes in the 
 ground. The plate is then immersed in 
 acid which bites wherever the holes are, 
 into the plate. 
 
 In printing from the plates prepared as 
 above described the result is not unlike a 
 mezzotint, which is a series of dots. The 
 dots, however, in pure mezzotint always 
 have a burr, while the others do not. 
 
 All these processes require acid, while in 
 a pure mezzotint no acid is used. 
 
 i§>oft Soft ground etching or Gravure dans du 
 (55rotnitt crayon, as the French term it, was very 
 0tc!jtng popular in the eighteenth Century. Upon 
 the copper plate is laid an etching ground 
 of a much softer and oilier nature than the 
 ordinary. Over this is laid a sheet of thin 
 paper carefully attached round the edges. 
 On this the drawing is made in soft lead 
 pencil used with a bold firm stroke and 
 even pressure. When the paper is carefully 
 
 20 
 
removed it carries with it the soft ground J§>oft 
 which adheres to the reverse side only 0 rounlJ 
 where the pressure of the pencil has been 
 aoplied. The plate is then bitten in the / . 
 
 usual manner and the effect, when printed, ' 
 
 closely resembles that of a cravon drawing. 
 
 An etching ground is laid upon the cop- Stipple 
 per plate, then with an etching needle the (Engaging' 
 outline of the drawing is pricked through 
 the wax, with a series of dots; afterwards 
 the shadows are made. The plate is bit¬ 
 ten as is an etching. The wax is then 
 removed and the dots are re-entered with 
 a specially shaped engraver, known as a 
 stipple-graver. 
 
 ist. Printing from the Grounded Plate. 
 2 d. Printing from the Grounded and 
 Etched Outline Plate. 
 
 3 d. Printing from the finished plate. 
 These are taken to prove the work, and 
 are called trial proofs. 
 
 J3rogmfg 
 of tlje 
 Jjlate 
 
 21 
 
Etching Tools. 
 
 Hammer 
 
 Scorper 
 
 Oil Rubber 
 
 Dabber 
 
 Roller 
 
 Needle 
 
 Acid 
 
 Burnisher 
 Scraper 
 Plate Callipers 
 Roulettes 
 
 Dry Point Tools. 
 
 Needle 
 
 Burnisher 
 
 Scraper 
 
 Mezzotint Tools. 
 
 Scorper 
 
 Rocker or Cradle 
 Scraper 
 Burnisher 
 Roulettes 
 
 Stipple Tools 
 
 Stipple Engraver 
 
 Burnisher 
 
 Scraper 
 
 22 
 
The following list comprises some of the prices 
 which fine impressions have brought at auction dur¬ 
 ing the last few years. These serve to show the 
 great admiration and desire to procure the best ex¬ 
 ponents in this style and period of engravings which 
 prevail in England at the present time. 
 
 Mrs. Carnac 
 
 After Reynolds, by J. R. Smith, before 
 title with publication line and artists’ 
 names in scratched letters, $6,090 
 
 Duchess of Rutland 
 After Reynolds, by V. Green, before title 
 with publication line and artists’ names 
 in scratched letters, $5,250 
 
 Lady Catherine Pelham Clinton 
 
 After Reynolds, by J. R. Smith, inscrip¬ 
 tion in scratched letters, $4,945 
 
 Lady Betty Delme 
 
 After Reynolds, by V. Green, before title 
 with publication line and artists’ names 
 in scratched letters, $4,830 
 
 Lady Bampfylde 
 
 After Reynolds, by T. Watson, 1st pub¬ 
 lished state, before name of personage, $4,620 
 
 23 
 
The Hon’ble. Miss Monckton 
 
 After Reynolds, by Jacobe, first state, $4,500 
 Mrs. Davenport 
 
 After Romney, by J. Jones, 1st state, 
 with untrimmed margins, $3,255 
 
 Lady Crosbie 
 
 After Reynolds, by W. Dickinson, be¬ 
 fore the title, with publication line, and 
 artists’ names in scratched letters, $3,045 
 
 The Ladies’ Waldegrave 
 
 After Reynolds, by V. Green, before 
 names of personages with publication 
 line and artists’ names in scratched 
 letters, $2,940 
 
 Mrs. Michael Angelo Taylor, as Miranda 
 After Hoppner, by W. Ward, before 
 inscription, $2,877 5° 
 
 Countess of Salisbury 
 
 After Reynolds, by V. Green, before 
 title, with publication line and artists’ 
 names in scratched letters, $2,625 
 
 The Hon’ble. Mrs. Beresford, Mrs. Gardi¬ 
 ner and Vicountess Townshend 
 
 After Reynolds, by T. Watson, before 
 inscription, $2,570 
 
 24 
 
Lady Jane Halliday 
 
 After Reynolds, by V. Green, before title 
 with publication line and artists’ names 
 in scratched letters, $2,362 50 
 
 Vicountess Townshend 
 After Reynolds, by V. Green, before title, 
 with publication line, and artists’ names 
 in scratched letters, $2,362 50 
 
 Mrs. Carwardine 
 
 After Romney, by J. R. Smith, first 
 state, $2,257 5° 
 
 The Hon’ble. Mrs. Stanhope 
 After Reynolds, by J. R. Smith, first 
 state, $2,152 50 
 
 Miss Cumberland 
 
 After Romney, by J. R. Smith, first state, 
 with inscription in scratched letters, $2,047 5° 
 
 Lady Hamilton, as Nature 
 
 After Romney, by Meyrer, first state, $2,021 25 
 
 The Douglas Children and The Hoppner 
 Children 
 
 After Hoppner, by J. Ward, proof with 
 titles in open letters, a pair, $1,890 
 
 Lady Heathcote, as Hebe 
 
 After Hoppner, by I. Ward, 1st state, 
 inscription in open letters, $1,310 
 
 25 
 
Lady Hamilton, as Bacchante 
 
 After Reynolds, by J. R. Smith, first 
 state, inscription in open letters, $1,625 
 
 Duchess of Buccleuch and Daughter 
 After Reynolds, by T. Watson, first 
 state, $i,575 
 
 Mrs. Payne Galwey and Son 
 
 After Reynolds, by J. R. Smith, first 
 state, inscription in scratched letters, $1,522 50 
 
 The Hon’ble. Mrs. North 
 
 After Romney, by J. R. Smith, before 
 inscription, $1,312 50 
 
 26 
 
PUT IN TYPES AND PRINTED 
 AT THE GOERCK ART PRESS 
 SIXTH AVE. AT FIFTY-THIRD 
 STREET, NEW YORK 
 
 - 6323o^ 
 

 
 
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