Silverpoint

Silverpoint predates the use of graphite as a drawing medium and was used by Leonardo da Vinci in his notebooks. A silverpoint drawing can be made with a piece of silver wire held in a lead holder or handmade holder. Some artists simply wrap the wire in a spiral around a pencil with enough length extending over the tip of the pencil to make the drawn line visible to the artist's eyes. The gauge of silver wire used is somewhat determined by individual preferences of the artists. The firm paper or lightweight board to draw on needs to be smooth and coated with a thin layer of gouache, poster paint or gesso. The slight tooth made by the layer of paint takes a little of the silver as you move the point over the surface to make the drawing. The result is very delicate. The marks need to be built up carefully. Cross-hatching is an effective drawing technique for silverpoint. There can be no effective erasure since the wire cuts into the gessoed surface a bit when the lines are drawn, leaving an indentation. To start with the drawing is silvery but over time the silver will tarnish to a rusty black for an old master finish. Tarnish to deepen the tones can be hastened with a dilute mixture of delicately brushed-on egg yolk. The yellow yolk bleaches out in natural light within a week while the tarnished lines remain a deeper tone. Another artist who preferred silverpoint was Ingres, along with some other French neo-classical draftsmen/artists.