TWO OF THE QUEEN'S PETS.
A silver point is a drawing made with a stylus of pure silver on paper or card specially prepared for the purpose with a coating of chalk or china clay applied under heavy pressure. To tell a real silver point, hold the drawing to the light edgeways. You will then see in bright silver every stroke made by the stylus. Also you will find, when looking at the drawing in the ordinary manner, that its colour varies in different places; looking at one part a faint brown, another blue, another grey; in fact, assuming, where it has been much worked on, the appearance of the surface of a bright silver article which has been for some time exposed to atmospheric influence.
A SLEEPING BEAUTY AT SANDRINGHAM.
(By Ernest M. Jessop.)
Before the advent of lead pencils silver point was greatly in vogue with the old masters, and fine examples by some of the greatest of these are to be found in the national collections of England and France. Notable among them are drawings by Raphael, Perugino, Botticelli, Holbein and Albert Durer. The art, which had fallen into disuse, has of late been revived by many eminent artists. The late Sir Frederick Leighton was an ardent devotee of silver point, and has left many beautiful specimens of his own drawing.
Both the Prince and Princess of Wales are great admirers of the art and possess several specimens drawn by my friend Mrs. C. Sainton, R.I., and myself. The Princess, in the scant leisure allowed her by the cares of state, I have reason to believe, practises the art of silver point, as well as that of burnt wood work, a description of which will be given in these pages very shortly.
And now let me give a few hints on how to practise almost the most difficult of all the graphic arts. To begin with the tools. These are very simple. From a jeweller you may procure three pieces of round silver wire a few inches long. They should vary in thickness from that of the thinnest lead in an ordinary pencil to that found in a six B, and may be used similar to the leads in an ordinary pencil case or mounted in wooden handles of the thickness of a lead pencil. You can buy (although only of the largest artists' colourmen) both silver point paper and card; the latter is the best from its non-liability to cockle.
