Bole (color)

Bole (color)

Bole is a reddish-brown hue. The term color comes from the Latin bōlus (or dirt) and denotes a type of fine, soft clay, the reddish-brown varieties of which are used as pigments and as a coating in panel and frame paintings beneath the painting or foil. Under the gold leaf, it “warms up” the color, which might otherwise have a green tinge. However, cane in art is much redder and less brown than the modern hue; it is often called the Armenian tree trunk. Although bole also means the trunk of a tree, these words are simply homographs that have no etymological origin.