Glossary

mezzoprint (or mezzotint)

In printmaking, an engraving process that is tonal rather than linear, or prints produced by this process. Developed in the 17th century, mezzotint was used widely as a reproductive printing process, especially in England, until photographic processes overtook it in the mid-19th century. A copper or steel plate is first worked all over with a curved, serrated tool called a rocker, raising burrs over the surface to hold the ink and print as a soft dark tone. The design is then created in lighter tones by scraping out and burnishing areas of the roughened plate so that they hold less ink, or none in highlights. Details may be sharpened by engraving or etching in a "mixed mezzotint."