tempera

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tempera. A term originally applied to any paint in which the pigment is dissolved in water and mixed (tempered) with an organic gum or glue, but now generally confined to the most common form of the medium—egg tempera. Egg has probably been used in paint since antiquity and it remains the principal medium for icons produced in the service of the Greek and Russian Orthodox churches. However, tempera is mainly associated with European art from the beginning of the 13th century until the end of the 15th century; it was the standard technique for panel painting in this period, until it began to be overtaken by oil. A detailed description of the technique as practised by Italian painters of the time is given in Cennino Cennini's treatise, written c.1400. According to Cennini (and later Vasari), only the yolk of the egg was used, but scientific examination of pictures suggests that the white by itself or both yolk and white together may occasionally have been used. The yellowness of the egg had little effect on the colours, though Cennini says that town hens produce the palest and best yolks, and adds that darker yolks will do for the flesh colour of ‘old people, or such, who are darker in colouring’. Pale yolks are still preferred today.

Painting with tempera is a demanding craft. Unlike in oil painting, each colour or tone required has to be pre-mixed, for they cannot be blended on the picture surface. The variety and subtlety obtained by skilful painters depended on a slow building-up process, in which each stage—ground, underpainting, and various layers of semi-transparent paint—would have a calculated effect upon the next. Tempera has more luminosity and depth than fresco, but its range of colour and tone is limited and it cannot achieve the close imitation of natural effects attainable in oil painting. In the late 15th and early 16th centuries it was very common for pictures to be painted in a mixture of the two techniques, with tempera typically providing a quick-drying underpaint to which oil glazes were applied. Subsequently tempera was virtually forgotten for centuries, until there was a revival of interest in the 19th century, stimulated by the rediscovery and publication of Cennini's treatise. Restorers, forgers, and also a few artists began to experiment with the technique, and certain 20th-century artists have favoured it, notably the Americans Cadmus, Tooker, and Wyeth.

tempera , painting method in which finely ground pigment is mixed with a solidifying base such as albumen, fig sap, or thin glue. When used in mural painting it is also known as fresco secco (dry fresco ) to distinguish it from the buon fresco (true fresco) applied to damp walls. The name distemper is given to the method when a glue base is involved. When used on wood panels, as it most frequently was for altarpieces and other easel pictures, it was applied on a gesso underpainting that was smooth, very white and brilliant. Tempera's particular advantage is that clear, pure colors are produced, which are not so subject to oxidation as are oils. However, tempera does not lend itself to the expression of nuances of color and atmosphere. Well known from antiquity, tempera was the exclusive panel medium in the Middle Ages and the early Renaissance, and in Italy it was not supplanted by oil until c.1500. In the north oil superseded tempera about a century earlier. Tempera was also much used in combination with oils. In modern times there has been a revival of tempera painting. Böcklin and Hodler in the 19th cent. experimented with it, and some 20th-century American artists, notably Ben Shahn and Andrew Wyeth, have renewed an interest in the old medium. Pigment mixed with egg yolk applied to a sized panel is the common preparation. In industrial art, notably for posters, a simplified distemper is often used. An excellent account of the early Renaissance use of tempera is found in Cennino Cennini's Treatise on Painting (c.1437, tr. 1933).

Bibliography: See P. Albenda, Creative Painting with Tempera (1970).

tempera. A term originally applied to any paint in which the pigment is dissolved in water and mixed (tempered) with an organic gum or glue, but now generally confined to the most common form of the medium—egg tempera. Usually only the yolk of the egg is used, but the white by itself or both yolk and white together have also been used. Egg tempera was the most important technique for panel painting in Europe from the beginning of the 13th century until the end of the 15th century, when it began to be overtaken by oil. After being neglected for about 400 years, tempera painting had a limited revival in the 20th century, the Americans Cadmus, Tooker, and Wyeth being noted exponents.

tem·per·a / ˈtempərə/ • n. a method of painting with pigments dispersed in an emulsion miscible with water, typically egg yolk. The method was used in Europe for fine painting, mainly on wood panels, from the 12th or early 13th century until the 15th, when it began to give way to oils. ∎  emulsion used in this method of painting.

tempera Painting medium used extensively during the Middle Ages, made of powdered pigments mixed with an organic gum or glue, usually of egg white or egg yolk. Tempera dries quickly and is applied with a sable brush, one thin layer on another, so that the finished effect is semi-opaque and luminous. During the 15th century, the more flexible medium of oil painting began to replace tempera.

tempera a method of painting with pigments dispersed in an emulsion miscible with water, typically egg yolk. The method was used in Europe for fine painting, mainly on wood panels, from the 12th or early 13th century until the 15th, when it began to give way to oils.

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