Sennelier Watercolour S1 Burnt Sienna (211)

Burnt Sienna is a warm, mid-brown colour formed by burning the yellow-brown limonite clay called Raw Sienna. Due to its opaque, red-brown mass tone and transparent, orangey undertone, it ranges from semi-opaque to semi-transparent. It is an excellent mixing complement for blues and greens and creates salmon or peach-coloured tints when mixed with white. It can be useful for subduing bright colours and does not get chalky in dark mixtures.

Chemical Name: iron oxides

Permanence: Burnt Sienna has good permanence and is considered one of the most versatile of the permanent pigments.

Toxicity: Burnt Sienna has no significant hazards.

History: Burnt Sienna has been used as a pigment since prehistoric times, but its current name came about during the Renaissance. It comes from the city of Siena in Italy and is short for terra di Siena, meaning the earth of Siena. Sienna was famous for mining and producing earth pigments from the Renaissance until World War II. Due to the depletion of clay deposits in Tuscany, Italian siennas now come from other areas, including Sicily and Sardinia.

Alternate Names: Caput Mortuum, Italian Earth, Natural Brown Iron Oxide, Sienna, Spanish Red, Vandyke Brown.