Metal point is a technique of drawing with a metal stylus on a prepared surface its origins are associated with the decoration of medieval illuminated manuscripts. By the 1930s, it was used in painters workshops in northern Europe and Italy. Generations of renaissance artists were trained to draw with metal point, its use petered out in the late seventeenth century, but a renewed interest in great artists of the past, such as Albrecht Dürer, someone we at Sang bleu take reference from and Leonardo Di Vinci, stimulated a revival of metal point in the nineteenth century. The challenge of drawing in metal point continues to attract artists today.

In the renaissance period the preparation for metal point was made by grinding up burnt animal bones and adding the powder to a watery glue, made of animal skin, this mixture then brushed onto paper parchment or even wooden panels to allow surface to be marked by metal point stylus.

The exhibition at the British museum started September 10th and runs until December 6th, a great range of large scale to sketchbook work to look at and a beautiful hard back book of the acquired collection for sale made specially for the exhibition.

British museum online archive collection