How Pale Silverpoint and Metalpoint Drawings Really Are?

A silverpoint drawing by Leonardo da Vinci
A silverpoint drawing by Leonardo da Vinci.

Looking at online images of silverpoint or metalpoint drawings, you will probably notice that many of them look very light and pale. Is this the norm? Why are they so light? And most importantly—how comes that only some metalpoint drawings look so pale while others appear much darker? Different computer monitors display images differently, thus you cannot be certain whether some artwork appears on your monitor the way it was intended to look like by the artist who scanned/photographed their work. Moreover, with image editing software like Photoshop, it is possible to alter how light or dark some digital image looks like. So how do these drawing actually look like in real life?

Metalpoint Drawing: Snarling Wolf Tribal

Wolf Metalpoint Drawing

This is a metalpoint drawing of a snarling wolf in profile. Image size is 8×10 inches. It is made with 24 karat gold, palladium, and aluminum. The more commonly used name for this drawing technique is “silverpoint,” but since I didn’t use silver for this artwork, I’m using the term “metalpoint” instead.