292

PAINTING MATERIALS

Gold Point (see also Silver Point). To what extent a wire or point of gold has
been used in the practice of drawing is a matter of some doubt. Enough has been
said about it, however, to indicate that it may have had at least occasional em-
ployment along with the very common silver point as an instrument to be used
over a slightly abrasive ground. Meder (p. 81) mentions it, and a modern writer
on drawing (Harold Speed, The Practice and Science of Drawing [Philadelphia:
J. B. Lippincott Co., 1925], p. 275) says that gold point gives a warmer line
than silver, but can be used in much the same way on paper that has been treated
with Chinese white (zinc oxide).

FIGURE 9. Compasses and dividers: (a) a type of compass with a lead stylus as shown
by DQrer (from Meder, p. 77, fig. 29); (£) two sketches of proportional dividers as shown
in the MSS of Leonardo da Vinci (from Meder, p. 188, fig. 68); (<r) a proportional
divider, closed, of modern manufacture. This opens to an x-shape on" the screw near
the center and can be set for the proportional relations desired.
Graphite Pencil. This, usually called a 'lead' pencil, is the common implement
for casual writing and for a great deal of drawing in modern times. It is made
almost entirely of pure graphite held together by firing at high temperatures, with
some addition of clay. Such pencils are now commonly sold as wooden sticks with
the so-called 'lead' in the center, or the leads are put in a permanent holder where
they can be moved in position as they wear down.
Lead itself was certainly used in the same way as other metals (see Silver
Point in particular), and the confusion of names makes it difficult to know at
what time graphite came in to take its place. R. Borghini, writing in 1586 (II
Riposo in cui della Pittura e delta Scultura si Favelta, Florence, p. 139), describes
the use Q$ a. piombino which may be graphite instead of lead. Meder (pp. 140-141)
quotes Johann Mathesius (1564) with regard to a new writing instrument of