Silverpoint Drawing:

"Metal point, descendant of the stylus of classical times and ancestor of the modern pencil,
a small, sharpened metal rod used for drawing precise compositions on paper or parchment.
The metal could be lead, silver, copper, or gold, but silverpoint was the most common choice
because it is the most suited to permanent drawing, its stroke adhering unerasably. The
silverpoint was of great value in producing the hard, clearly defined line required, for
instance, by miniaturists; modelling, emphasis, and light phenomena, however, had to be
rendered either by means of repetitions, dense hatching, or blanks or else supplemented by
other mediums." Encyclopaedia Britannica (online), 1996.
"Metalpoint. Drawing
instrument (the forerunner of the pencil) made from a small, pointed metal tip, usually of
lead, silver, copper or gold, encased in a wooden holder. Metalpoint can be used on various
supports, including paper, parchment, wood and ivory, but the surface usually requires a
special preparation or ground for the metal to leave a mark. Paper, which is most commonly
used, is coated with an opaque white or tinted ground composed of lead-white powdered
bone, pigment and gum-water. Several layers are applied. The natural tone for the ground is
off-white, but it can be colored with any pigment. The ground has to be sightly granular for
the metalpoint stylus to rub off and must have sufficient 'tooth' to retain the metal
particles..." The Dictionary of Art, 1996 "Silver has long been the preferred metalpoint
medium, due to the ease with which it slides over a prepared surface and responds to
pressure and for its trait of tarnishing over time. The color of the silver is gray when it is first
applied to a prepared surface. Upon tarnishing, the silver attains a warm, mellow, brown
tonality. The degree and rate of transformation is dependent on exposure to air, pollution,
and the chosen ground. Artists who have worked in the medium often greet the resulting
change in color with a sense of excitement and surprise, a process categorized by Victor
Koulbak as the 'self-developing of the drawing.' The silver radiates a soft, effusive tonality,
an almost ghostly luminosity. Silver acquires a shimmer and, as a result, it catches and
reflects light." Bruce Weber, "Silverpoint Drawing," in American Artist, March 1986.

The Art Of Silverpoint Drawing

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Silverpoint is a drawing technique that was extensively used during the Renaissance both as
underdrawing in panel painting and as a medium for fine drawings. Fine drawings,
particularly, were done on white or tinted grounds and were commonly highlighted with
white watercolour applied with a brush. To this day, silverpoint, or metalpoint as it is also
know, remains a traditional but seldom used artists technique for fine drawings..Essentially,

the technique is based on coated paper upon which one draws with a fine silver stylus.
Metalpoint drawings are also created with copper, platimum and gold. A contemporary
metalpoint tool comprises a standard draftsmans mechanical pencil. Instead of graphite
leads, the artist inserts a silver, copper, platinum or gold rod. Silver and gold are readily
available at jewelry craftspeople. For copper I use standard copper electrical wire stripped of
its plastic coating. A fine metal file keeps the point relatively sharp, although too sharp a
point may tear the paper.

.To coat the paper, Renaissance artists took bones ( often from the dinner table ) and
calcified them by placing the bones in a hot fire until they were a powdery white. The white
calcified bones were mixed with a glue medium and then coated on a paper or wood
surface. As silverpoint drawing began, minute particles of silver are embedded in the surface
leaving a grayish line. In turn these lines tarnish with time giving the drawing a mature look.
Silver takes considerable time to tarnish, perhaps even years, whereas copper will tarnish in
a months time. Gold does not tarnish. Silver tarnishes the lines into a brownish line and
copper produces a yellow-green line. Platinum and gold are simply too expensive.

.Contemporary surface material for silverpoint drawing is standard flat white latex acrylic
paint. Tints can be added to the while latex paint. My favourite tinting material is guache
paint and watercolour. Any paper of reasonable weight is suitable for surface preparation for
silverpoint work. Other commercially available surfaces include clay-coated paper, clay
board and primed masonite.

.I have spent considerable time exploring various grounds for my silverpoint work. It
appears that old formulae for grounds are not necessarily any better than new, modern
grounds such as Gesso. So, I am back to former means to coat my paper, using Gesso instead
of flat white latex primer. Gesso ( for now ) will be the medium for other mixed-media
surfaces ( silver enamel, gold dust, marble dust, plaster of Paris ) which I continue to brush,
splash, spatter, roll ( under tracing paper ), sand, press and burnish, in a variety of very
contemporary surface paintings experimenting beyond conventional boundaries.

.The artist must possess a certain amount of confidence in his ability to draw as
silverpoint lines cannot be erased. Neither is silverpoint a sketching medium. Instead, it is a
fine drawing medium. Lines can be built up through hatching, contour lines, drifts, and other
drawing techniques, but never to a point that lines disappear in an overall grey. To
strengthen some areas of the drawing I will use limited graphite to increase the density of

black. I must, however, be careful not to overpower silverpoint with graphite especially
when my aim is to create a metalpoint drawing.

.Silverpoint began to decline in the late sixteenth century as other drawing materials
became more available and tastes changed. The advent of etching and engraving also
spelled a demise for silverpoint work. By the seventeenth century there were few silverpoint
drawings. Rembrandt, one of the most revered classical masters of line and drawing, is
known to have made only one silverpoint drawing. There was some renewal of interest in
the late nineteenth century, but its true revival belongs to the twentieth century, when such
a revival of metalpoint drawing flourished in the United States dating back as early in the
century as 1904. In Canada little work in silverpoint is created, at least to the extent that
such work enjoys public appreciation and awareness. John Gould, one of Canadas drawing
masters uses silverpoint in his repertoire of drawing techniques. I began using silverpoint in
the early nineties. The medium remains exacting yet very rewarding as somehow, as an
artist, one feels connected to the work of centuries ago, and as I continue this journey of
walking in the footsteps of master, I feel particularly blessed to have begun to master this
ancient yet every bit contemporary technique.

.One of the greatest satisfactions in exploring various grounds is the effect of graphite in
silverpoint in my new-found technique. My previous silverpoint technique employed cutting
lines ( with a sharpened stylus ) into latex primer and gesso grounds leaving graphite only as
a means to strengthen a few lines and possibly add a bit of tone. However, the new
technique of a gentler polished-round silver stylus on a sanded and burnished ground of
mixed media ( gesso, marble dust, etc. ) has given me a whole new experience of drawing on
silver with graphite. The process is extremely sensuous as if I am drawing with butter on
butter. The effect, especially in tonal areas, is a gradual strengthening of values that
complements the silverpoint.