Sinopia

Sinopia (named after the Turkish city Sinop) is a reddish-brown ochre-like earth color pigment used in traditional oil painting. It is used for the cartoon or underpainting for a fresco; indeed, the term is also synecdochically used to refer to underpainting done in sinopia. It is composed of iron oxides, from a kind of clay or quartz called sinople.

Sinopia was written about by Cennino Cennini in "Il libro dell'arte" in the 15th century and described thus: "a natural color known as sinoper, or porphyry, is red; and this color is lean and dry in character. It stands working up well; for the more it is worked up, the finer it becomes. It is good for use on panel or anconas, or on the wall, in fresco or in secco." Cennini follows this discussion with a look at a special kind of sinopia used in Florence for painting flesh colors.

Literature

• Fabrizio F.V. Arrigoni: "Sinopie architettura ex artramentis". Lindlar 2011. Die Neue Sachlichkeit, ISBN 978-3942139-07-6 (Deutsch/Italienisch); ISBN 978-3-942139-08-3 (English/Italian).

External links

• The Museo delle Sinopie in Pisa, Italy

See also

• Underpainting
• List of colors