Portret van William Campbell Skinner 1770

This is a mezzotint portrait of William Campbell Skinner, made by James Watson around 1770, using a copper plate. Mezzotint is a printmaking process that relies on building up tone, not line. The plate would be roughened first, using a tool called a rocker, so that it would print entirely black. The image is then created by selectively burnishing or scraping away the burr, to produce lighter tones. The velvety blacks, and smooth gradations of tone that you can see, are characteristic of this process. Mezzotint was a popular medium for portraiture in the 18th century. It was particularly well-suited to reproducing the subtle details of skin and clothing. And because it could be printed in large editions, mezzotints like this one made portraiture more widely accessible. While only the wealthy could afford to commission a painted portrait, a mezzotint could be purchased for a fraction of the price. Looking at this print reminds us that all art is a product of its time, shaped by the available technologies and the social forces that drive them.