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Silverpoint

Silverpoint (metalpoint) is a very old medium. Its history is vague, and its revelation is based on a few surviving texts and artworks. What is known is that its popularity appears to have reached its peak between the 14th and early 16th centuries (1300-1500 AD). It may have been used for millennia before the Renaissance. Renaissance artists like Albrecht Durer and Leonardo Da Vinci used silverpoint as the primary medium in few of their famous works, but rather it was used as a guide for painting. It was well-suited for this because the delicate metal under-drawing did not react or smear when paint was applied.

After the 16th-century silverpoint almost completely ceased to exist when the use of graphite, chalk, and ink were preferred mediums due to the ease and flexibility of their use.

Today the medium is again becoming popular with many fine artists. Silver, gold, copper, and other metals are used to draw on a variety of substrates that accept delicate markings. Silverpoint is also known as goldpoint, copperpoint, and other names depending on the metal that is used, although silver is the most common. With the exception of gold, the drawings oxidize (tarnish) over time creating a unique, tarnished image.