The pencil was invented in France. More precisely, it was invented and patented in 1795 by Nicolas-Jacques Conté. This is fairly standard Wikipedia knowledge, but it raises an interesting follow-up question: what did people use before the pencil?
The answer is that you can make a mark with almost anything. However, for precise drawing, artists often used metal. Lead, for example, worked well, but many other metals could be used as long as the surface was abrasive enough to wear away the metal and leave a trace on paper or a prepared panel.
Much of the work by famous artists before the pencil era was done with copper and especially with silver. The Portrait of Balthazar is my first attempt at drawing with silverpoint. It feels similar to drawing with a hard pencil, but over time, as the silver reacts with sulphur in the air, the lines gradually turn brown.
Looking at the colour of Balthazar, copper might have been a better choice—but over time copper turns greenish, which is even worse.
