Museo delle Sinopie (Sinopie Museum), Pisa

The Sinopie Museum (Museo delle Sinopie) is housed in part of the former Hospital Santa Chiana, built in 1257 by Giovanni di Simone. You really shouldn’t miss visiting the museum because it will help you to understand the amazing amount of work that went into creating the magnificent frescoes that adorn many ancient buildings. First of all you must understand that a fresco was executed fairly quickly, as it was painted onto fresh plaster, and usually several artists took part in its creation. The pigments and the plaster then dried at the same time, making the fresco amazingly resistant to time and water damage. Although the fresco was painted by many people, the sinopia was created by the master artist. It is, quite simply, a sketch done in the reddish-brown pigment composed of iron oxides from the Sinop area of Turkey. It is sketched onto a preliminary layer of plaster and covered with another, fine layer of plaster onto which the fresco is painted.

Each sinopia differs according to its artist, as you will see in the museum. Some artists just did rough outline sketches, while other sinopias are highly detailed. Of course, the sinopia was never meant to be seen, so the museum’s collection is very rare and offers a wonderful occasion to see the original work of great masters such as Benozzo Gozzoli and Buonamico Buffalmacco. The senopias, which include scenes from the Old Testament, the “Triumph of Death”, the “Last Judgment” and “Hell”, were discovered in 1944 when American artillery set fire to the Camposanto Monumentale and damaged many of the 14th century frescoes. The frescoes that could be saved were removed, using the delicate “a strappo” technique, revealing the senopias underneath. These in turn were removed using the same technique and have been on display in the museum since 1979.