I was unable to attend the museum due to an illness, but I did some research myself, as well as went back to the textbook, and here are some of my thoughts.
I found it incredibly interesting how ideas such as tenebrism, chiaroscuro, and the usage of deeper tones were not exclusive to the artistic mediums we often associate them with (painting). It is incredible that 17th century printmakers created new techniques to replicate the contemporary artistic trends seen in paintings, such as the usage of Japanese and Chinese papers and drypoint picking (which both allowed for darker blacks), as well as the experimentation of different textures of paper, which allowed artists to have a wider variety of tones.
Techniques like selective wiping and mezzotint helped printmakers to attain a primarily dark print, further embracing the darker tonalities seen in art at this time.
I found it particularly interesting looking at Hendrick Goltzius’ Farnese Hercules, and comparing it to some of Rembrandt’s prints. Because Goltzius’ scholarly trip to Italy took place just before the rise of Caravaggio and the Baroque, there is a greater emphasis on the grandeur of the art of antiquity, versus the contemporary chiaroscuro and the experimentation of light and dark that I see in a lot of Rembrandt’s works.