Reverend John Moorhead 1751

This portrait of Reverend John Moorhead was made by Peter Pelham, using the technique of mezzotint, a printmaking process that relies on the manipulation of the copper plate. First, the entire surface of the plate would have been roughened with a tool called a rocker, creating a dense field of tiny dots which would hold the ink. The image is then created by selectively burnishing or scraping away these dots to varying degrees, creating areas that hold less ink and therefore print lighter tones. Pelham, who was also a skilled engraver, would have likely used a variety of specialized tools to achieve the subtle gradations of tone we see here. The mezzotint technique allows for rich blacks and smooth transitions, making it well-suited for reproducing paintings. This print would have been part of a larger economy of images, circulating likenesses and ideas in a rapidly expanding Atlantic world.