Ludwig Von Siegen - Invention of Mezzotint

Invention of Mezzotint

In Amsterdam Siegen must have been aware of Rembrandt's increasingly tonal etchings, achieved by conventional methods, filling in the dark areas by repeated lines. In Italy at the same time Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione was also exploring the possibilities of tonality in printmaking, leading him to invent monotyping at almost the same moment as Siegen invented mezzotint. Mezzotint achieves tonality by roughening the plate with thousands of little dots made by a metal tool with small teeth.

In a letter of March 6, 1641 to the Landgravine, Siegen announced that he had begun a portrait of her, and hinted that he would appreciate some money. News of his conversion had just reached the court, and the response seems to have been restrained. In August 1642, he finally finished the first known mezzotint engraving, a portrait of the Landgravine Amalia Elisabeth, Regent of Hesse-Kassel, the widow of his former employer. He sent this to her son, Landgrave William VI with a letter explaining that he had invented the process:

".... I could not pass up dedicating such a rare and previously unseen work of art in humble honour before anyone else to your highness who is an extraordinary connoisseur of art. The way this work is made, no engraver or artist could explain or guess.".

The portrait is rather stiff, but the full range of tones from the very light ones on the layered lace collars to the solid black of the left background make it a very effective showpiece for the potential of mezzotint.

He worked from "light to dark", only roughening the plate where he wanted to produce tones, using "roulettes" or wheels with sharp teeth. This is unlike most later mezzotinters, who first roughened the whole plate, then scraped or burnished the roughness away where they wanted lighter tones, so working from "dark to light".

In 1643–44, he produced portraits of Elizabeth of Bohemia, (the "Winter Queen", daughter of James I of England), William II of Orange and his wife, Mary, all after paintings by Gerard van Honthorst. All were perhaps potential employers.

In 1654 he did a large portrait of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor from memory, having seen him at the Diet in Regensburg. He distributed copies to the various princes gathered there, without attracting further commissions.

Apart from portraits he did a St Bruno and in 1657 copied a Holy Family with St John the Baptist by Annibale Carracci. His total mezzotint production was these seven plates, although he also produced paintings and medals.