mezzotint

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a printmaking technique in which a metal plate is roughened to print dark tones and then scraped or burnished to create lighter areas

   The artist used mezzotint to produce deep shadows and soft transitions of tone.

2. 2
   noun

   a print produced by the mezzotint technique

   The gallery displayed a seventeenth-century mezzotint beside the original portrait.

3. 3
   verb

   to engrave or reproduce an image by the mezzotint process

   She learned to mezzotint the prepared copper plate.

Borrowed from Italian mezzatinta, literally 'half tint,' from mezza, 'half,' + tinta, 'tint or tone.' The name reflects the method's rich intermediate tones between solid black and white.

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