Tempera

MEANING
 tempera painting, painting executed with pigment ground in a water-miscible
medium. The word tempera originally came from the verb temper, “to bring to a
desired consistency.” 
 Tempera, also known as egg tempera, is a permanent, fast-drying painting
medium consisting of colored pigments mixed with a water-
soluble binder medium, usually glutinous material such as egg yolk. Tempera
also refers to the paintings done in this medium.
USES
 Tempera paint is used for craft projects, school classroom projects, posters, theatre
props, painting windows, color mixing exercises, and much more, but the best results
can be found when used on paper, cardboard, and poster board.
 It is used for stage scenery and full-size preparatory cartoons for murals and
tapestries. 
Types of Tempera Painting

Tempera is traditionally created by hand-grinding dry powdered pigments into a binding

agent or medium, such as egg yolk, milk (in the form of casein) and a variety of plant
gums.
1. Egg tempera- The most common form of classical tempera painting is "egg
tempera". For this form most often only the contents of the egg yolk is used.
The white of the egg and the membrane of the yolk are discarded (the membrane
of the yolk is dangled over a receptacle and punctured to drain off the liquid
inside). Egg yolk is rarely used by itself with pigment; it dries almost immediately
and can crack when it is dry.

2. Tempera grassa- Adding oil in no more than a 1:1 ratio with the egg yolk by
volume produces a water-soluble medium with many of the color effects of oil
paint, although it cannot be painted thickly.
 3. Pigments- Some of the pigments used by medieval painters, such
as cinnabar (contains mercury), orpiment (contains arsenic), or lead
white (contains lead) are highly toxic. Most artists today use modern synthetic
pigments, which are less toxic but have similar color properties to the older
pigments. Even so, many (if not most) modern pigments are still dangerous
unless certain precautions are taken; these include keeping pigments wet in
storage to avoid breathing their dust.

HISTORY
 Tempera is an ancient medium, having been in constant use in
most of the world’s cultures until it was gradually superseded by
oil paints in Europe, during the Renaissance.
 Tempera was the original mural medium in the
ancient dynasties of Egypt, Babylonia, Mycenaean Greece,
and China and was used to decorate the early
Christian catacombs. It was employed on a variety of supports,
from the stone stelae (or commemorative pillars), mummy cases,
and papyrus rolls of ancient Egypt to the
wood panels of Byzantine icons and altarpieces and the vellum
leaves of medieval illuminated manuscripts.
EXAMPLES

Sandro Botticelli, The Birth of Venus, tempera on canvas, c. 1486

The Birth of Venus is a painting by the Italian artist Sandro Botticelli, probably executed in the mid
1480s. It depicts the goddess Venus arriving at the shore after her birth, when she had emerged
from the sea fully-grown. The painting is in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy.
 Lorenzo d'Alessandro, The Crucifixion; Saint Michael, ca. 1480–1490, The Walters Art
Museum
This double-sided painting is a standard intended to be carried during processions and
other religious ceremonies. It was probably made for a brotherhood devoted to Saint
Michael located in a town in Marche. On one side is the Crucifixion with the mourning Virgin
and Saint John. On the reverse, Saint Michael tramples the devil and holds the scales in
which he weighs a blessed soul; kneeling at his feet are members of the brotherhood, clad
in white habits with cowls as is usual in the orders of flagellants (people who whip
themselves to show penitence).
The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci, tempera on gesso, 1495–1498

The Last Supper is a mural painting by the Italian High Renaissance Leonardo da Vinci, dated to c. 
1495–1498. The painting represents the scene of the Last Supper of Jesus with the Twelve
Apostles, as it is told in the Gospel of John – specifically the moment after Jesus announces that
one of his apostles will betray him.