sanguine

—sanguinely, adv. —sanguinity, sanguinness, n.

/sang"gwin/, adj.

1. cheerfully optimistic, hopeful, or confident: a sanguine disposition; sanguine expectations.

2. reddish; ruddy: a sanguine complexion.

3. (in old physiology) having blood as the predominating humor and consequently being ruddy-faced, cheerful, etc.

4. bloody; sanguinary.

5. blood-red; red.

6. Heraldry. a reddish-purple tincture.

n.

7. a red iron-oxide crayon used in making drawings.

[1275-1325; ME sanguyne a blood-red cloth < OF sanguin < L sanguineus bloody, equiv. to sanguin-, s. of sanguis blood + -eus -EOUS]

Syn. 1. enthusiastic, buoyant, animated, lively, spirited.

Ant. 1. morose.

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▪ art

 chalk or crayon drawing done in a blood-red, reddish, or flesh colouring. The pigment employed is usually a chalk or clay containing some form of iron oxide. Sanguine was used extensively by 15th- and 16th-century artists such as Leonardo da Vinci (Vinci, Leonardo) (who employed it in his sketches for the Last Supper), Michelangelo, Raphael, and Andrea del Sarto.

      Especially appropriate for rendering effects of mass and atmosphere, sanguine was greatly favoured by the Venetian painters and by those artists, such as Peter Paul Rubens (Rubens, Peter Paul) and Antoine Watteau (Watteau, Antoine), who were influenced by them. In conjunction with black and white, sanguine formed the technique known as aux trois crayons (“with three pencils”).

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