From the museum website
From the rich collection of the Teyler Museum the staff has made a selection of the most beautiful portraits, biblical scenes, still lifes and stage scenes made in a technique called mezzotint. The exhibition shows clearly how this graphical technique enabled artists to imitate famous paintings after for example Rembrandt, Rubens or Reynolds. Painterly effects are created by numerous shades of light and dark. Beautiful prints are quite rare because the copper plate wears out quickly. The inspiration for this exhibition was the surprising discovery of an original copper plate by Cornelis Dusart (1660-1704). In the exhibition the plate as well as an original print are to be seen together for the first time.