Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A method of engraving a copper or steel plate by scraping and burnishing areas to produce effects of light and shadow.
- noun A print made from a plate engraved by mezzotint.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To engrave in mezzotint; represent in or as if in mezzotint.
- noun A method of engraving on copper or steel of which the essential feature is the burnishing and scraping away, to a variable extent, of a uniformly roughened surface consisting of minute incisions, accompanied by a bur, produced by an instrument called a cradle or rocker.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To engrave in mezzotint.
- noun A manner of engraving on copper or steel by drawing upon a surface previously roughened, and then removing the roughness in places by scraping, burnishing, etc., so as to produce the requisite light and shade. Also, an engraving so produced.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun a form of
intaglio etching in which ametal plate is roughened evenly and then smoothed to bring out an image - noun an etching or print made using this method
- verb to make such etchings
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun print produced by an engraving that has been scraped to represent light or shade
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word mezzotint.
Examples
-
The painting was engraved by James Heath, who bought the original painting, and was also engraved in mezzotint in 1804 by William Dickinson.
Anecdotes and Observations, Reflections and Critical Remarks 1824
-
This is the foundation of what is called mezzotint engraving, which
-
He painted Bloomfield in miniature in 1804; a mezzotint of the portrait was engraved by John Young and published on 1 January 1805.
Index of People 2009
-
Young, John (1755 – 1825): mezzotint engraver and etcher.
Index of People 2009
-
Well, I'm no great fan of the web? it certainly doesn't do for graphic art what the mezzotint did? but if it does have a role to play, then the satiric one would appear to be ideal, demanding as it does an instantaneous response, coupled to a near-universal accessibility.
-
In America, Copley had created at least 273 oil portraits, fifty-eight pastels, thirty-seven miniatures, four history paintings, and one mezzotint between 1753 and 1774.
History of American Women Maggiemac 2009
-
The pose and certain aspects of the costume - especially the pear-shaped pearl, bow, and lace at the bodice - are reminiscent of Alexander Van Haecken's mezzotint after Joseph Van Haecken, Catherine Clive.
History of American Women Maggiemac 2009
-
Peter Pelham was a London-trained mezzotint engraver and a portrait painter, and he introduced John Copley to portraiture through his European engravings.
History of American Women Maggiemac 2009
-
She is portrayed here in a Kininger mezzotint after Guerin, 1804.
-
I looked at the little mezzotint on the wall of Christ.
baron wormser | portrait of the artist « poetry dispatch & other notes from the underground 2007
reesetee commented on the word mezzotint
A distinctive form of engraving, richly black and textured, in which the plate has been worked from dark to light. Used mainly for portraits.
February 25, 2008