Prince Rupert of The Rhine
Prince Rupert of the Rhine (i.e. of the Palatinate), a famous Royalist commander in the English Civil War, was the cousin of William VI of Hesse-Kassel, and the son of Elizabeth of Bohemia. Prince Rupert was also an amateur artist, and in about 1654 learned of the process, either from his cousin, or possibly from Siegen himself - whether they ever met is a point of scholarly controversy. A number of letters between Rupert and William referring to the technique survive from the period following 1654.
Rupert produced some stylish mezzotints himself, and through him, after his return to England with the English Restoration in 1660, the invention became known there, which was to be the main home of the technique. Rupert described it to John Evelyn, who published it (in very enigmatic terms) for the first time in 1662, crediting Rupert with the invention:
" Of the new way of Engraving, or Mezzo Tinto, Invented, and communicated by his Highnesse Prince RUPERT, Count Palatine of Rhyne, &c."
However Rupert probably did invent the "rocker", a wide curved tool with teeth, used to roughen a whole plate, which was an essential tool in the developed technique. Rupert's artistic assistant or tutor Wallerant Vaillant (1623-77) was the first to adopt the process commercially, in Amsterdam in the 1660s.
Read more about this topic: Ludwig Von Siegen
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