Definition of Tempera Painting
There are many types of paint available on the market today. Several of these, including oil paints and tempera paint, have been available for centuries. However, many people are still confused about what is meant when the word tempera is brought up. Children from preschool through high school use something called tempera paint for school projects, yet it is also mentioned in association with fine art.
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Historic paint
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The concept of tempera paint has been around for centuries. According to the A Lifetime of Color website, tempera paint is the oldest known form of paint. It was used to create images in ancient Egypt and Greece. Pigments were created by grinding up various types of minerals, wood, plants or clay. They were then mixed with egg yolks to create a liquid paste that could be applied to almost any surface in small, thin layers.
Renaissance Tempera
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During the Renaissance, tempera began giving way to newer and more versatile oil paints. Tempera in the High Renaissance continued to use the same basic ingredients of powdered minerals or other natural products mixed with egg yolk. The egg yolk was the binding agent and artists would often also mix in other liquids such as honey, water or milk to vary the consistency, create a glaze or increase opacity. The A Lifetime of Color website points out that this remained a popular medium until the advent of oil paints during the Late Renaissance.
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Tempera Today
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Tempera paints are most familiar in the school setting today. Tempera paints today are known more because of their presence within the school setting. Created primarily with artificial pigments and most often mixed with water, these paints are used because they are inexpensive and easy to clean out of clothes and classrooms. The Kids Art website details many different ways that tempera paint is used today, including mixing it with various materials to create textured paint effects or even mixing the dry pigment with sculpting materials for different effects.
Properties of Tempera
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One of the main properties of this type of paint is that it dries quickly, which is beneficial when you wish to paint over specific areas, but can be a problem when you are trying to blend shades together on the canvas. The Encyclopedia of Irish and World Art points out that this type of paint can't be applied in heavy layers and is generally not as bright or saturated as other forms of paint.
Fine Art Tempera
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Today, the use of tempera paints in fine art has been relatively eliminated. Social Realists Paul Cadmus, Jared French, George Tooker, Isabel Bishop, Reginald Marsh and Ben Shahn tried to revitalize the art in the 19th and 20th centuries. There remain several artists who work with traditional tempera paints in fine art, but the ease and versatility of other paint forms, such as oil paints and acrylic paints, have reduced the number of fine artists who bother with it.
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References
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- Photo Credit Religious ceiling painting in church on Gozo image by Sheila Button from Fotolia.com hatszepsut - egypt image by Mirek Hejnicki from Fotolia.com rome fresco image by Vladislav Gajic from Fotolia.com kids paint craft image by Christopher Hill from Fotolia.com
