. Prints; a brief review of their technique and history . ough, Reyn- 111 PRINTS olds, and all that famous group of paintersgave to the world their magnificent array ofportraits, there existed no school of lineengravers in England, no group of masterlyengravers or etchers such as those of theNetherlands or of France. The field, there-fore, was clear for mezzotint, and it seemsas though no other process could havemore adequateh^ interpreted the achieve-ments of the great portraitists. Their preva-lent breadth of treatment, devoid of small,niggling detail, their numerous womens por-traits, with
. Prints; a brief review of their technique and history . ough, Reyn- 111 PRINTS olds, and all that famous group of paintersgave to the world their magnificent array ofportraits, there existed no school of lineengravers in England, no group of masterlyengravers or etchers such as those of theNetherlands or of France. The field, there-fore, was clear for mezzotint, and it seemsas though no other process could havemore adequateh^ interpreted the achieve-ments of the great portraitists. Their preva-lent breadth of treatment, devoid of small,niggling detail, their numerous womens por-traits, with soft, rounded forms, subtletransitions of tone, sparkling accents of lightand blending depths of shadow, were admir-ably suited to the black art. Hence therise, during the eighteenth century, of alarge school of mezzotint engravers, who at-tained great perfection in their chosen me-dium, progressing from prints of a sooty,black appearance to plates of clear, fine tex-ture, like the portrait of Mrs. Carnac herereproduced, an engraving by John Raphael 112. MRS. CARNACJohn Raphael Smith ENGLAND Smith. One is apt, quite naturally, to ac-cord to engravings like this the credit dueto the painter for his graceful aside, however, from matters of com-position and beauty of subject, the merecharm of intense shadow and brilliant highlight, with transitions of breath - like deli-cacy, rendered with the velvety richness pe-culiar to mezzotint, will readily explain thevogue and costliness of such prints. Nohalf-tone reproduction, however good, canconvey an idea of the texture of mezzotint-ing. An examination of good, early impres-sions of mezzotint portraits by such men asMcArdell, Watson, Ward, Green, Reynolds,or other notables of the scraper, will provetheir merits much more convincingly thanwords. While portraiture is the field par excellenceof mezzotint achieveinent, other possibilitiesof the process are evidenced by plates likethe flower and fruit piece here shown, inw
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookpublis, booksubjectengravers
