2-730-804 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Head of a Woman, 1894 or after. This remarkable drawing reveals the beauty of silverpoint, which requires scratching with a metal point on to a prepared paper. A demanding technique that allows no corrections, the method was used in the Renaissance by artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, and it was revived in the late 19th century. Beginning in 1896, the art supply company Winsor-Newton offered a kit with a silverpoint tool and prepared paper. Dewing skillfully exploited the qualities of this technique to create an image with a silvery sheen, which seems to float upon the paper.