Female torso nude drawing
Aphrodite
Discover more artworks about the artist Georges Zarkadas
Commision portrait paintings
The artist offers portrait paintings on order.
Oil painting on linen costs 1200e, 2500e, 6000e for 40cm,60cm,100cm height respectively
Graphite on paper costs 500e, 1200e, 2500e for 40cm, 60cm, 75cm height respectively
Please contact the artist by e-mail
Historical development of graphite
In early times, slate or chalk were used for writing. However, slate leads were inefficient, leaving only a faint mark while requiring intense pressure to do so. The term “graphite” comes from the Greek word graphein, which means to write. Carbon drawings have survived for thousands of years on cave walls and other antiquities. Graphite pencil was discovered in the 1500’s, when a deposit of graphite, a soft, black rock, was discovered around Borrowdale, in Cumbria, England. Originally used for marking sheep, and later, a niche industry developed. Eventually, the graphite was encased in wooden layers for use in carpentry. Eraser added by Hymen Lipman who patented the idea in 1858.
Frenchman Nicholas Jacques Conte is credited for creating the variety of hardness in pencils when mixing graphite with clay and firing the mix in rod shapes in a kiln, a process which begun primarily to protect the limited supply of Borrowdale graphite. In the mid-1800’s, American Joseph Dixon opened a pencil factory, and by 1873, had mastered the mass production of pencils.
What is Graphite?
Graphite, archaically referred to as plumbago, is a crystalline form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a hexagonal structure. It occurs naturally in this form and is the most stable form of carbon under standard conditions. Under high pressures and temperatures it converts to diamond. Graphite is used in pencils and lubricants. It is a good conductor of heat and electricity. Its high conductivity makes it useful in electronic products such as electrodes, batteries, and solar panels.
