The invention of the intaglio printing process mezzotint in 1642 is considered the finest hour of the Cologne artist Ludwig von Siegen. This sophisticated technique, to which the Wallraf is dedicating its own print exhibition in the summer of 2025, was the first to work from dark to light, earning it the name ‘black art’. Light tones are scraped from a deep dark background onto copper plates. After being printed on paper, velvety soft form gradients appear, which made mezzotint the ideal process for reproducing the effect of large paintings at the time. Mezzotint was mainly used for single sheets and rarely for book illustrations. However, as the exhibition shows, mezzotint only really flourished in 18th century England. Here the process became famous under the term ‘English manner’ and its most important representatives included artists such as Richard Earlom, John Faber, John Smith and Valentine Green.
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