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Home>Drawing in Silver and Gold: Leonardo to Jasper Johns>Netherlandish Renassiance

Exhibition Introduction

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Renaissance

    Netherlandish

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Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries

Nineteenth Century

Modern and Contemporary

Acknowledgments

More Metalpoint

Metalpoint Drawing through the Centuries

Note: dimensions are given in inches, followed by centimeters in parentheses. Height precedes width.

Netherlandish Renaissance, c. 1400–1520s

Renowed for their ability to depict light and texture in oil paint, artists in the Netherlands such as Jan van Eyck (c. 1390 – 1441) and Rogier van der Weyden (1399 /1400 – 1464) turned to silverpoint’s luminous and precise line to achieve similar effects in their drawings. Netherlandish artists created texture, tone, and shading by building up networks of fine lines, and sometimes achieved highlights by scratching through the lines to reveal the creamy white coating of the paper.

In the years around 1400 some Netherlandish artists used pale-green or blue- green grounds, but after that brief interlude, they worked mainly on white or cream grounds. Many of the surviving Netherlandish metalpoints of the fifteenth century are meticulous copies of other works of art and were kept in workshops as models for future paintings, samples for prospective patrons, and examples for aspiring artists to follow as they learned to draw. Silverpoint was ideal for this purpose, as its resistance to accidental smudging meant that details remained clear throughout years of studio use.

Netherlandish Renaissance

Netherlandish 14th century, The Death of the Virgin, c. 1390, silverpoint on prepared paper, 11 7/16 × 15 3/4 (29.1 × 40), National Gallery of Art, Rosenwald Collection, 1950.20.2.
Netherlandish Renaissance

Circle of Jan van Eyck, Portrait of an Unknown Man, Head and Shoulders to Front, 1430s, silverpoint on cream prepared paper, 8 7/16 × 5 5/8 (21.4 × 14.3), On loan from The British Museum, London © The Trustees of the British Museum, London, 1895,0915.998.
Netherlandish Renaissance

Circle of Rogier van der Weyden, Dives Tormented by Demons in Hell, c. 1450/1470, silverpoint with scratching on cream prepared paper, 4 9/16 × 11 (11.6 × 27.9), On loan from The British Museum, London © The Trustees of the British Museum, London, 1884,0726.29.
Netherlandish Renaissance

Circle of Rogier van der Weyden, Head of the Virgin, c. 1450/1470?, silverpoint with scratching on white prepared paper, 5 1/16 × 3 15/16 (12.9 × 10), On loan from The British Museum, London © The Trustees of the British Museum, London, 1884, 0726.27.
Netherlandish Renaissance

Circle of Rogier van der Weyden, Saint Mary Magdalene, c. 1455/1465, silverpoint on cream prepared paper, 6 15/16 × 5 1/8 (17.6 × 13), On loan from The British Museum, London © The Trustees of the British Museum, London, Oo,9.2.
Netherlandish Renaissance

Lucas van Leyden (Netherlandish, 1489/1494 - 1533), Two Nude Allegorical Figures, c. 1515, silverpoint on white prepared paper, 10 7/8 × 8 1/16 (27.7 × 20.5), On loan from The British Museum, London © The Trustees of the British Museum, London, 1892,0804.9.
Netherlandish Renaissance

Netherlandish 16th Century, Augustus and the Tiburtine Sibyl, 1520s, silverpoint on pale blue prepared paper, squared for transfer, 15 3/8 × 9 7/16 (39.1 × 24), On loan from The British Museum, London © The Trustees of the British Museum, London, 1860,0616.134.
Netherlandish Renaissance

Rogier van der Weyden (Netherlandish, 1399/1400 - 1464), Portrait of an Unknown Young Woman, c. 1435/1440, silverpoint on cream prepared paper, 6 9/16 × 4 9/16 (16.6 × 11.6), On loan from The British Museum, London © The Trustees of the British Museum, London, 1874,0808.2266.
Netherlandish Renaissance

Netherlandish 15th Century, The Arrest of Christ, c. 1410/1420, silverpoint heightened with white on light greenish-gray prepared paper, 4 5/8 × 5 1/8 (11.7 × 13), On loan from The British Museum, London © The Trustees of the British Museum, London, 1883,0714.77.