Editing Silverpoint (section)

== Characteristics ==
A traditional silverpoint stylus is made with a small fine rod of silver, such as [[jewelry wire]], which is inserted into a wooden rod. Another design is a silver-tipped metal stylus with points on both ends. An example of this type is shown in [[Rogier van der Weyden]]'s ''St. Luke Drawing the Virgin,'' ca. 1435–40 ([[Museum of Fine Arts, Boston|Boston Museum of Fine Arts]]). For a contemporary stylus, jeweler's wire may be inserted into a pin vise or mechanical pencil.{{sfn|Watrous|1957}}

The initial marks of silverpoint appear grey as other metalpoints, but silverpoint lines, when exposed to air, tarnish to a warm brown tone. The oxidation becomes perceptible over a period of several months. The speed of oxidation varies according to the level of pollution in the air. Historically, silverpoint styli ranged widely in composition from pure silver to heavily alloyed with copper (over 20% weight).{{sfn|Duval|Guicharnaud|Dran|2004}}{{sfn|Reiche|Radtke|Berger|2004}}{{sfn|Reiche|Radtke|Berger|2006}}{{sfn|Watrous|1957}}

In the Middle Ages, metalpoint was used directly on parchment for the underdrawing of illuminated manuscripts or model books. On uncoated parchment (and paper), silverpoint is particularly light in value. However, since the 14th century, silverpoint was used more successfully on prepared supports. A traditional ground may be prepared with a rabbit skin glue solution pigmented with bone ash, chalk and/or lead white. Contemporary grounds include acrylic gesso, [[gouache]] and commercially prepared claycoat papers. The slight tooth of the ground preparation takes a little of the silver as it is drawn across the surface.

[[File:Mozart drawing Doris Stock 1789.jpg|thumb|250px|A 1789 portrait of Mozart in silverpoint by [[Dora Stock|Doris Stock]]]]
Silverpoint has encompassed a wide range of styles from Dürer's curvilinear precision to Rembrandt's gestural sketches. Silverpoint has also proven adaptable to modern styles. [[Thomas Dewing|Thomas Wilmer Dewing]]'s late 19th Century silverpoint portraits are essentially tonal, as are [[Paula Gerard]]'s mid-20th-century abstract compositions. Gerard's ''Vortex'' (Fairweather Hardin Gallery) is an innovative combination of silverpoint, goldpoint and watercolor on casein-coated parchment.<ref name="weber" />

Old Master silverpoints are typically intimate in scale, recalling the technique's roots in manuscript illumination. However, modern artists have also utilized this fine line technique for works on an increasingly large scale. [[John Wilde]]'s ''The Great Autobiographical Silverpoint Drawing'' ([[Art Institute of Chicago]] 1986.8) which is {{convert|38|×|91|in|cm|abbr=on}}, one of the largest modern silverpoints.

Silverpoint was also used in conjunction with other metal points by 20th-century artists.  [[Pedro Joseph de Lemos]], the Director of the [[San Francisco Art Institute]] from 1911 to 1917, popularized his "techniques" in California art schools with his published instructions on the easy fabrication of various types of metal points that would react with inexpensive coated paper.<ref name="edwardsrw">{{cite book|last1=Edwards|first1=Robert W.| title=Pedro de Lemos, Lasting Impressions: Works on Paper| date=2015|publisher=Davis Publications Inc.| location=Worcester, Mass.|isbn=978-1-61528-405-4|pages=62–63}}.</ref>  In his ''The Last of the Old Woodstock Inn'', 1968 (The Art Institute of Chicago), [[Ivan Albright|Ivan Le Lorraine Albright]] used silver with platinum, gold, copper and brasspoint on commercially prepared video media paper. Contemporary artists continue to push the boundaries of this ancient drawing technique. Contemporary American silverpoint artist [[Carol Prusa]] combines graphite and binder on acrylic hemispheres with [[metal leaf]], video projection and fiber optics.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Strickland |first1=Ashley |title=Mesmerizing cosmic artworks honor history's unsung female astronomers |url=https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/carol-prusa-dark-light-exhibition-scn/index.html |website=www.cnn.com |publisher=[[CNN]] |access-date=23 August 2021|date=20 August 2019}}</ref> [[Susan Schwalb]] has combined  smoke and fire in silver and copperpoints in the 1980s and currently creates drawings and paintings using numerous metals as well as acrylic paint.<ref name="weber">{{cite book|last=Weber|first=Bruce|author-link=Bruce Weber (photographer)|title=The Fine Line. Drawing with Silver in America – Exhibition catalogue|location=West Palm Beach, Florida|publisher=Norton Gallery and School of Art|date=1985|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g_RXzQEACAAJ|isbn=0-943411-06-8}}</ref> [[Jeannine Cook]] combines touches of colour with monochromatic drawings, employing such media as [[Prismacolor|Prismacolour]], watercolour, Plike paper, silk fabric and silk threads. Experimental metalpoint techniques including goldpoint on [[silicon carbide]] paper are demonstrated in ''Draw Like da Vinci'' by Susan Dorothea White,<ref name="draw" /> as in [http://www.susandwhite.com.au/drawings_prints/2005lily.html ''Gilding the Lily'' (2005)]. [[Elizabeth Whiteley]] interfaces with computer-based imagery. She draws with a silver stylus over inkjet prints that have been coated with a translucent prepared ground.<ref>Schwalb, Susan and Tom Mazzullo. ''Silverpoint and Metalpoint Drawing''. New York, New York. Routledge, 2019.</ref>