Egg Tempera

Introduction about the History of Egg Tempera Painting

Many people are familiar with the painting "Birth of Venus" by the Renaissance master Botticelli. The goddess, clothed

in only her swirling golden locks, stands languorously upon a giant clamshell. Wind gods blow her molluscan boat

toward the shore where a nymph, a flowery, pink robe in her hands, awaits to clothe the beautiful, naked figure.

In this painting ..Botticelli, Like all great painters of his time, made his paints from the yolks of eggs.

Painting with egg yolk goes all the way back to ancient Greece. The Egyptians and Romans were familiar with the

technique as well. They would start with color, in the form of powdered pigments - ochers and umbers ground from

the earth; celestial lapis lazuli blues made from pulverized stone; rich and smoky blacks of burnt bones and sticks.

The powdered pigments were combined with water, and then tempered with a "binder", something to make it all hold

together and stick. When the binder used was egg yolk, it was called an egg tempered paint, or egg tempera for short.

By the 15th century, amid the flowering of the commercial and cultural renaissance that became known as The

Renaissance, egg tempera became the most popular form of easel painting throughout Europe. It was used by

virtually every painter of that time: Duccio, Giotto, Fra Angelico, Ghirlandaio, Mantegna, Fra Filippo Lippi, Fra Angelico,

and of course, that egg tempera master, Botticelli. Late Renaissance artists such as Michelangelo and Leonardo da

Vinci also were well versed in egg tempera, but by that time a new medium had arrived on the scene - oil. Slow

drying oil paints blend more readily than egg tempera, and allow for more atmospheric painting. The naturalistic

effects achieved with oil were better suited to the more scientific and humanistic culture of Leonardo's time. Oil

painting grew in popularity, while egg tempera fell from use. Within a generation or so, egg tempera was practically

obsolete.

Happily, in the 19th century the English fell in love with Italy. Numerous Brits took up residence in Florence, and

began to root around in the city's archives. In 1844 an Englishwoman, Mary Merrifield, rediscovered, translated and

published a 14th century manuscript by Cennino Cennini called Il Libro dell'Arte, in which the process of egg tempera

painting is described. Inspired by Cennini's text, five British artists founded The Society of Tempera Painters in 1901.

The revival of egg tempera had begun.

A score of early 20th century American painters adopted the "new" old medium: Thomas Hart Benton, Isabel Bishop,

Paul Cadmus, Reginald Marsh, and Ben Shahn to name a few. Andrew Wyeth became the most famous egg painter of

them all, when he created "Christina's World" in 1948. Like Botticelli's Venus, Wyeth's Christina became another

cultural icon rendered with the yolk of an egg.

Interest in egg tempera continues to grow. Updated versions of Cennini's classic text and numerous how-to tempera

books have been recently published; egg tempera paintings are more commonly seen in galleries and shows; and in

1997 a new Society of Tempera Painters was formed in the United States. The Society publishes newsletters, holds

exhibitions, and has a web site replete with egg tempera information and imagery. While still relatively unfamiliar to

many people, more and more artists are discovering the beauty and benefits of this ancient medium.

Egg Tempera Technique

Egg tempera painting consists of three simple ingredients: powdered pigments, egg yolk and water. The pigments are

ground with water to form a paste, then mixed with the separated yolk of an egg. The yolk, like the oil in oil painting

or the gum arabic in watercolor, is what binds the pigments to a surface. The surface used in egg tempera is generally

a panel made of wood or hardboard that has been coated with several layers of traditional, homemade gesso (rabbit

skin glue and whiting) that has been sanded to an ivory smooth finish.

Egg tempera paint is generally applied in diluted, very thin, often transparent layers of pure color. It dries to the

touch within seconds; however for a painting to fully cure takes 6-12 months. Many, many layers are applied in order

to build up an image. The ultimate effect of dozens of layers of interacting colors set upon the white, highly reflective,

true gesso ground is rich and luminous.

Egg tempera has a reputation as an old fashioned medium that produces flat, rigid work. Egg tempera was and often

still is used for icon painting but it is not limited to that style. It may be applied with traditional hatch strokes but it

also can be splattered, blotted, sponged on, scratched off and manipulated in countless other ways to produce effects

both ancient and modern.

Traditional egg tempera painting does require some old fashioned craftsmanship. Panels and paints are created from

scratch and the painting technique, while in moments spontaneous, is also deliberate and systematic. Some are

deterred by the egg tempera process, but others enjoy the workmanship involved: making gesso; mixing pigments;

the relative non-toxicity of the materials involved; the luminous paintings that result. When egg tempera is compared

to oil paints there are some notable differences. For example: thick, impasto layers of tempera would crack and fall off

and thus are not possible; blending is limited because of tempera's quick drying nature; there is a linear (as opposed

to a painterly) quality to egg tempera, also due to its fast drying time. Aside from distinct characteristics such as

these, egg tempera offers a rich range of possibilities.

Reference: http://www.kooschadler.com/techniques.htm

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Guide to the main art materials needed in class :

For preparing your painting surface you need :

1-wood panel or stretched canvas (I prefer wood panel)

2-Acrylic gesso (Alwan)

3-Soft and wide flat brush.

4-Moderately coarse and fine sandpaper (no. 500 and no 1000).

For tracing image on primed wooden panel :

1- You need tracing paper

or photo copy of the design you want to paint

2- carbon paper

3-Tape .

4- Soft graphite pencil

For coloring you need acrylic colors and white titanium pigment (color in the form of powder) , painting brushes

( different sizes starting from the very fine “2/0 Arches Pure Kolinsky” .. found in Alwan )

Small plastic containers/ palette with a lid (a cover )

For glaze you need :

1- “Liquin” or “glazing medium for oil paint”. (Samir & Ali ,ALWAN)

2-Transparent oil colors.

3-Flat ,soft brush.

4- Hair drier.

For gilding ( applying gold or silver leaf on panel) we need :

1- gold leaf (ALWAN )

2- Candle/ or simply a piece of wax

3- gel medium ( ALWAN)

Or water based guilding glue , called “ missione”

Gilding practice :

Prepare the ground with gesso and a suitable under-painting color .

Learn how to hold Gold leaf and apply on panel using gel medium .

Four under paintings affect the final appearance of the golden leaf in different ways .

Example of contemporary artist that uses the traditional practice of applying gold leaf gildin : Greg dunn’s work

Artist Statement :

I enjoy Asian art. I particularly love minimalist scroll and screen painting from the Edo period in Japan. I am also a fan of neuroscience. Therefore, it was a fine day when two of my passions came together upon the realization that the elegant forms of neurons (the cells that comprise your brain) can be painted expressively in the Asian sumi-e style. Neurons may be tiny in scale, but they posess the same beauty seen in traditional forms of the medium (trees, flowers, and animals).

greg(at)gregadunn.com

Hybrid technique:

Creating with acrylic a final surface that can have a similar appearance to tempera or

oil paint in the old techniques stemming from Renaissance :

Introduction :

Why Acrylic ?

In old techniques imprimaturas were used .

It is mainly applying a veil of transparent color on the white primed canvas ( or wooden panel )

using wide and soft brush . This veil of transparent color show through subsequent layers of paint.

Imprimaturas must be sound enough to work over. Therefore - For a low solvent

studio- acrylic, which sets to a waterproof finish , is the ideal water based

option instead of oil .

Acrylic also makes a good alternative to a solvent based wash (glaze) .

(Watercolour and Gouache are re-soluble, and therefore not ideal for this

technique.

The process of replacing oil (and temperai) with acrylic to create

paintings with imprimaturas and layers of color glaze was practiced by

one art professor in Japan called professor Nito Sadatoshi (Tsukuba

University – school of Art and design )

I therefore introduce to you the main procedures of what he called

“Hybrid Technique.

Painting by Naito Sadatoshi

Support and ground :

You will need wood panel or stretched canvas (I prefer wood panel) , Acrylic gesso

Soft and wide flat brush, and fine sandpaper .

Steps:

First we apply a primary layer of diluted gesso ( mixed with approximately thirty

to fifty percent water ). This works like size that reduces absorbency and ensure

the paint will not sink into the surface we are painting on

To provide a white surface for the colors to respond to and absorb into we apply two or

three coats of gesso (with no water added to it this time )

Lightly sand each dry coat of acrylic gesso

(To keep your brush working don‟t forget to rinse it with water between coats and after

gesso application has completed )

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Under painting

Drawing is a big part of the under painting process in art stemming from Renaissance.

Old Masters needed to create a well developed drawing before starting to paint .

Under painting is a process of layering a painting to create more luminosity.The under

painting never completely disappears when the painting is complete. It isn‟t visible to

the eye. But light travels through the layers of paint, reaching the under painting, then

reflects that light through all the over painting layers. This is what gives a painting

the luminosity so admired in old masterworks. Paintings without an under painting never

achieve the same degree of luminosity because they lack the depth of paint layering

Under paintings consist of the following :

1-Cartoon iitransfer or Abbozzo iii.

2-Imprimatura

3-Paintings with muted color or with greys (grisaille)

First Transfer :

1- You need tracing paper

or photo copy of the design you want to paint

2- Dry pigment like that of brown umber

or carbon paper

3- A piece of cotton or sponge.

4- Tape .

5- Soft graphite pencil

steps

Trace your cartoon on a piece of tracing paper .

To transfer your tracing to the panel prepared with gesso ground , take a very small

amount of dry umber pigment and rub it on the back of the tracing paper with a piece of

cotton or sponge .

Lay the tracing face up on the panel and tape it down on four sides .

Mark the exact place of the tracing paper on the panel to insure you can get it off and

back again at the same place to continue the transfer without the lines getting shifted.

With a soft graphite pencil , go over the lines ,and the shades pressing onto the panel

sensitively according to the tones .

Check the transfer by turning back a corner of the tracing to see whether the lines are

marking . If not rub more pigment on the back of the tracing and begin again .

When the tracing paper is removed , the whole design will be pale but clearly marked on

the gesso . Dust away any excess pigment with a soft , clean , dry brush .

Go over the lines on your panel with a very fine pointed sable brush dipped in acrylic

diluted with water

Another way of transferring your design on top of the panel is to replace the tracing

paper and the tracing step by directly using a photocopy of the design.

You can still rub the dry pigment on the back of this photocopy or cover it all over

with graphite using a soft pencil ( 6~ 8B ) or simply use carbon paper instead .

Second step is creating an imprimatura :

literally means „first painting‟ and refers to the wash of colour placed over the white

priming on a support.

In this diagram of an oil study the pinkish Imprimatura can be seen beneath the brush

marks; giving the work a lively warmth

How the Imprimatura works

The imprimatura creates an optical effect on anything painted over it, depending on

exactly how this is done you can make the finished picture seem:

•More vibrant (complementary)

•Less vibrant (harmonic)

•More Spontaneous

•Glowing and luminous

As the imprimatura is the first thing you‟ll paint, it must be thought out before you

begin.

Imprimaturas only work if you allow them to show through subsequent layers of paint, so

you must either:

1.Work loosely over them, allowing uncovered areas to remain

2.Work translucently over them allowing them to show through the over painting to a

degree

To make a picture more vibrant the imprimatura should be roughly the opposite of the main

colour used on the final painting:

For example a bluish sky picture will appear more vibrant if painted over an orangey

imprimatura

Any two opposites on The colour wheel will create this simple illusion of vibrancy

Harmonic Imprimaturas

Basing your imprimatura on an adjacent colour to the principal one in your intended

painting will create an harmonic effect;

(harmonic imprimatura bind the painting together , so it is ideal if you have trouble

making your work look cohesive

Simple Imprimaturas:

The simplest imprimatura can be made from a single colour, washed over the entire

support.

Traditional colours for this are transparent warm earth colors that could begin the

warm/ cool , dark/ light interchange of the painting process such as raw umber or burnt

umber,reddish brown.

Buff, pale greys, violet, and different greens were also used…

One can experiment with opacity, and saturation to get different effects. Other than

traditional colors of imprimatura any soft colour will do but remember to choose a

complementary or harmonic scheme.

Split Imprimaturas

A split imprimatura is based on two colours, one for the „sky‟ the second for the „land‟.

1588), often used a complementary salmon pink -(1599Ruisdael JakobDutch artists such as

for the sky, and a more harmonic Sienna for the ground in their landscape paintings

Colour Beginnings

JWM Turner 1840), developed a type of imprimatura he called a „colour beginning‟ .-(1786

Rather than apply a complete wash Turner placed masses of bright colour under his

principal shapes.

Once this was dry he used it as a base to develop the forms from, creating luminosity and

unity

.

Third step in the under painting is to create a de-saturated layer with muted colors :

In this stage you can start by creating three value gradations .

If you applied monochrome gradation of gray this will be called “grisaille”

If you applied monochrome gradation of green- brown neutral tint it is called

“verdaccio”

Successive Layers of glazing and painting

Colors become more saturated as we continue layering our strokes .

For glaze “Liquin” or “glazing medium” is mixed with a tiny amount of transparent oil

color are applied to the surface with flat ,soft varnish brush .

It is very important to think of the color of each glaze as well as its concentration .

The glaze is left until it gets sticky ( we can hurry up this state by using a hair

drier )

While it is still sticky we continue putting more layers in acrylic , stop if the glaze

starts to dry and loses its sticky effect .

Continue glazing and so on ….

Painting steps by Rania Fouad copying a painting of Ingres

i Egg tempera : egg used as a binder mixing it with pigments some times to create paintings by itself (pure tempera paintings ) or combined with oil paint . It is faster to dry than oil and creates colors that are vivid and bright

ii Cartoon : a full scale drawing used in the transfer of a design to a painting

iii Abbozzo : creating a pale drawing that can be applied with chalk , watercolor , egg tempera , graphite , or ink directly on canvas or wooden

panel )