What is Metalpoint Art?

What is Metalpoint Art?

Leonardo da Vinci Studies of a Horse, c. 1490 Metalpoint (probably silverpoint) on pale buff prepared paper, 19.9 × 28.5 cm Lent by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

I bet you dont know this untill you started reading this blog.
Metalpoint is a pen-shaped object, made of metal or wood, with a cylindrical tip of a sharpened metal point.

 Silver is certainly the most widely used material for metalpoint drawing, but gold, lead, copper, or a mixture of those elements are also used. The style, size, shape and softness of the metal can vary, and this affects the resulting drawing.

Various methods of metalpoint drawing were in use as early as the era of the Romans, who employed it primarily for sketching larger paintings as well as creating smaller pictures and documents.

 The technique of metalpoint allows you to draw simple, thin, delicate lines. The filling of a space in the material is only possible through cross-hatching. Once set, a fine gray line cannot be removed, as it could be with pencil and an eraser, which makes this technique extremely difficult and the artist must have an exceptionally steady hand. 

The practice is otherwise similar to that of using a pencil, except that the surface must be specific: a base made of paper or wood, prepared with a cementite product to create a slightly rough surface on which the metal pin can release its pigments.

 Different colors, shades, density and depth can only be achieved by varying shades and by drawing dense grids. 

One of the most interesting observations is that silver drawings especially tarnish over the time, turning slowly into a golden brown color, which is probably one of the reasons why silver was, and still is, the preferred material. (wsimag.com)