What is "sinopia"

Sinopia \Si*no"pi*a\, Sinopis \Si*no"pis\, n. A red pigment made from sinopite.

n. 1 A reddish-brown ochre-like pigment, derived from sinople, used in traditional oil painting and as the cartoon for frescos. 2 The rough sketch (executed in sinopia) which underlies a fresco.

n. a red ocher formerly used as a pigment [syn: sinopis, sinoper]

Sinopia (also known as sinoper, named after the Turkish city Sinop) is a dark reddish-brown natural earth pigment, whose reddish color comes from hematite, a dehydrated form of iron oxide. It was widely used in classical antiquity and the Middle Ages for painting, and during the Renaissance it was often used for the cartoon or preparatory drawing for a fresco. The word came to be used both for the pigment and for the preparatory drawing itself. During the Middle Ages synopia in Latin and Italian came to mean simply a red ochre. It entered the English language as the word sinoper, meaning a red earth color.