Wednesday, February 11, 2026

Germanic Mezzotints

Christoph Weigel
Wilhelmine Amalie, Holy Roman Empress
ca. 1710
mezzotint
Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig

Christoph Weigel after Giovanni Lanfranco
St Peter
ca. 1690
mezzotint
Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig

Christoph Weigel after Giovanni Lanfranco
St Paul
ca. 1690
mezzotint
Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig

Ludwig Sommerau
Portrait of a Young Man
ca. 1775-85
mezzotint
Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig

Johann Matthias Schuster after Antoine Pesne
Portrait of Augustin Dubuisson
1755
mezzotint
Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig

Johann Elias Ridinger
The Clavichord induces Devotion and Desire
ca. 1740
mezzotint
Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig

Elias Nessenthaler
Pietà
ca. 1695
mezzotint
Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig

Elias Nessenthaler
Archangel Gabriel
ca. 1695
mezzotint
Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig

Andreas Löscher
Allegory of Winter
ca. 1740
mezzotint
Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig

Johann Kenckel after Johann Martin Schuster
Foreshortened Figure in Clouds
ca. 1710-20
mezzotint
Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig

Johann Kenckel after Johann Martin Schuster
Draped Figure mounting Stairs
ca. 1710-20
mezzotint
Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig

Johann Kenckel after Johann Martin Schuster
Draped Figure Kneeling
ca. 1710-20
mezzotint
Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig

Johann Kenckel after Johann Martin Schuster
Académie
ca. 1710-20
mezzotint
Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig

Theodor Caspar von Fürstenberg
Salome with the Head of John the Baptist
ca. 1656
mezzotint
Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig

Franz August Börner
Portrait of artist Hans Thoma
ca. 1910
mezzotint
Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Samuel Blesendorf
Dorothea Sophie, Electress of Brandenburg
ca. 1670
mezzotint and engraving
Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig

Mezzotint – A special type of intaglio print, invented in the 17th century but widely practised in the 18th, notably for the reproduction of paintings.  The technique is especially suitable to this end, because it facilitates the controlled engraving of tone rather than of line, as in traditional copper engraving with the use of a burin.  A toothed chisel –the 'rocker' – is held upright and pushed while being rocked back and forth with its edge pressing on the metal plate.  This makes it possible to lay an even, close mesh of burred pits all over the surface of the plates.  Tints are then scraped or burnished into this to produce an even tone.  Sharp edges can be pointed up by engraving or etching lines.

– Erika Langmuir and Norbert Lynton, The Yale Dictionary of Art and Artists (2000)