Book Description

Excerpt from Mezzotinto Engraving: A Paper Read Before the Sette of Odd Volumes at Willis's Rooms on March 4th, 1887 The fable, formerly current, that Prince Rupert in vented this art, while watching the markings made upon a piece of rag with which one of his soldiers was cleaning a rusty gun, is pleasingly ingenious, but wholly untenable. Rupert was, however, considered as the inventor until 1839, when Léon Laborde brought the actual discoverer to light in von Siegen. The error in question was promulgated by John Evelyn, of diary fame, who was the first to print an account of the art in a little treatise on Chalcography, published in London wherein he gives the Prince the credit of having invented the new way of engraving, or mezzotinto, as it was then styled. Evelyn should have contented himself with the state ment that Rupert communicated the process to him, for it is conclusively proved that Ludwig von Siegen, a Lieu tenant-colonel in the service of the Landgrave of Hesse, was really the inventor, a fact which is shown by a letter of his, dated 12-lgth August, 1642, still preserved at Cassel. Addressing the Landgrave, to whom he forwards a mezzotint portrait of his mother, Amelia Elizabeth, Siegen says: This is the print from copper, gracious Prince and Lord, which I promised to prepare for the ever praise worthy memory of your Grace's mother, in order that many illustrious persons, acquainted with the actions of so widely famed a princess, might be enabled to possess the likeness of her person. But since [have discovered a new or singular invention of a kind never hitherto beheld, I have, on account of the nicety of the work. Been able only to have few copies struck off, not thousands, as in the case of ordinary engravings, and therefore can with them only oblige a few persons. I could not neglect to dedicate to your Grace, as an extraordinary amateur of Art, such a rare and hitherto unseen work of Art and later, the present method is all merely dots, which information I did not wish to conceal from your Grace as being well skilled in Art. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.