- published: 10 Apr 2014
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Mezzotint is a printmaking process of the intaglio family, technically a drypoint method. It was the first tonal method to be used, enabling half-tones to be produced without using line- or dot-based techniques like hatching, cross-hatching or stipple. Mezzotint achieves tonality by roughening the plate with thousands of little dots made by a metal tool with small teeth, called a "rocker." In printing, the tiny pits in the plate hold the ink when the face of the plate is wiped clean. A high level of quality and richness in the print can be achieved.
The mezzotint printmaking method was invented by the German amateur artist Ludwig von Siegen (1609–c 1680). His earliest mezzotint print dates to 1642 and is a portrait of Amelia Elizabeth, Landgravine of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) (right). This was made by working from light to dark. The rocker seems to have been invented by Prince Rupert of the Rhine, a famous cavalry commander in the English Civil War, who was the next to use the process, and took it to England. Sir Peter Lely saw the potential for using it to publicise his portraits, and encouraged a number of Dutch printmakers to come to England. The process was especially widely used in England from the mid-eighteenth century, to reproduce portraits and other paintings. Since the mid-nineteenth century it has been relatively little used. Robert Kipniss and Peter Ilsted are two notable 20th-century exponents of the technique; M. C. Escher also made seven mezzotints.
I hear you talk about your family life
I wish I knew just what that means
I guess my mother never loved my dad
And now I wear it on my sleeve
My sister called me just the other day
It felt so good to hear her voice
My problem is I don't have much to say
I guess she doesn't have a choice, and I'm sorry
Look at me I'm so pathetic
I can't believe I'm just an addict
I've never needed anyone to help me
I'm begging you to please come save me from myself, save me from my...
My mothers always tried to change herself
She never learned to let things be
She doesn't know how bad she messed me up
'Cause now she seems so fake to me but I love her
Look at me I'm so pathetic
I can't believe I'm just an addict
I've never needed anyone to help me
I'm begging you to please come save me from myself, save me from myself
If you push me then I won't fall
I've been programmed to take it all
And shove it way down inside
Like my father
I'm so pathetic
I can't believe I'm just an addict
I've never needed anyone to help me (I'm failing it)
I'm begging you to please come save me from myself
I hear you talk about your family life