Sanguine () or red chalk is
chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. C ...
of a reddish-brown colour, so called because it resembles the colour of dried blood. It has been popular for centuries for
drawing
Drawing is a form of visual art in which an artist uses instruments to mark paper or other two-dimensional surface. Drawing instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, various kinds of paints, inked brushes, colored pencils, crayo ...
(where white chalk only works on coloured paper). The word comes via French from the Italian ''sanguigna'' and originally from the Latin "sanguis".
Technique
Sanguine lends itself naturally to sketches, life drawings, and rustic scenes. It is ideal for rendering modeling and volume, and human flesh. In the form of wood-cased pencils and manufactured sticks, sanguine may be used similarly to charcoal and pastel. As with pastel, a mid-toned paper may be put to good use. A fixative may be applied to preserve the finished state of the drawing. The pigment used in sanguine sticks comes from red earths such as
red ochre
Ochre ( ; , ), or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the colours produced ...
.
Chalk drawing
. www.britannica.com. Retrieved August 20, 2016. Sanguines are also available in several other tones such as orange, tan, brown, beige.
Gallery
File:Rembrandt van Rijn, Self-Portrait, c. 1637, NGA 9844.jpg, Rembrandt van Rijn
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally cons ...
, Self-Portrait, c. 1637. National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of ch ...
, Washington, D.C.
File:L'Image et le Pouvoir - Etude d'après un buste romain.jpg, French sanguine drawing; relatively unusual in fully colouring the background
Image:Leonardo_da_Vinci_-_presumed_self-portrait_-_WGA12798.jpg, Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested on ...
self-portrait in sanguine
See also
* Conté
Conté (), also known as Conté sticks or Conté crayons, are a drawing medium composed of compressed powdered graphite or charcoal mixed with a clay base, square in cross-section. They were invented in 1795 by Nicolas-Jacques Conté, who creat ...
* Trois crayons
References
Red chalk: material, history and application in art, J.den HollanderRed chalk: map of historic mining sites with references to sources, J.den Hollander, B.Reissland, N.Wichern, I.Joosten (2019)
Drawing
Visual arts materials
Shades of red
Shades of brown
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