Introduction to the Exhibition—Drawing in Silver and Gold: Leonardo to Jasper Johns

John Hand, curator of northern Renaissance paintings, National Gallery of Art; Kimberly Schenck, head of paper conservation, National Gallery of Art; and Stacey Sell, associate curator of old master drawings, National Gallery of Art. This first comprehensive exhibition to examine the history of metalpoint—the art of drawing with a metal stylus on a specially prepared ground—premiered at the National Gallery of Art from May 3 through July 26, 2015. With some 90 drawings from the Middle Ages to the present, Drawing in Silver and Gold: Leonardo to Jasper Johns featured works from the collections of the British Museum, the National Gallery of Art, and other major museums in the United States and Europe. In this lecture recorded on May 10, 2015, exhibition curators John Hand and Stacey Sell and conservator Kimberly Schenck demonstrate the surprising range of effects possible in metalpoint—a medium that has often been regarded as limited and unforgiving. Works discussed include those by Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Rogier van der Weyden, Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt van Rijn, and Jasper Johns.