Concept · Paint and Its Surface

Egg Tempera

Egg tempera binds pigment with egg yolk. In medieval and early Renaissance Italy it was the usual paint for panels.

Egg dries quickly, so wet colors can't be blended as in oil. Painters modeled form with many small strokes side by side, as on the sphere.

• By the late 1400s Italians were often combining egg with oil, and after about 1500 tempera fell out of favor.

See

• Madonna and Child

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