Tempera Paint In The Italian Renaissance

Paint has been in use from prehistoric times and has played an important role in decorative art over the centuries. Two of the oldest and most respected paints used by artists and craftsmen are tempera and oil paints. Used for centuries and easily made by the artist, in comparison to other paints, these were the primary paints of the Italian renaissance. These paints continued to be used in the centuries after, though tempera is not as popular as it once was, oil still remains a standard paint for modern artists. The basics of how these paints are made remain similar to the original techniques. Before addressing the different kinds of paint, first some discussion of the two basic elements of paint is warranted. The pigment is the …show more content…
There are only three required ingredients: egg yolks, water, and the pigment (Van Vuuren, 2013). With these three items being fairly common, the paint became popular. To create the paint, water is mixed with the pigment to form a paste. Then, the binder is mixed by rupturing a yolk sack, squeezing the yolk out. Next pure water is added to the yolk and the two are mixed. For the final step, the pigment mixture and the yolk mixture are thoroughly stirred until blended together (Van Vuuren, 2013). The ease with which this paint could be made allowed numerous people to make and use …show more content…
As the name suggests, oil paint uses oil as a binder, normally the oil is linseed but walnut and poppy are also used (Oil Paint, 2012). The most basic formula is to use mix a dry pigment with the oil using a palette knife on a hard surface, or a mortar and pestle. This rudimentary method can only be used fresh and only with certain oils, normally walnut (Van Vuuren, 2013). Most oil paint is not made this way. The vehicle, the total liquid content of the paint, can feature numerous ingredients depending on what the artist desires the finish product to be like. These various additional ingredients are what make oil paint significantly more complicated then tempera. For example, varnishes are often added to give the plain a glossy look. Driers are often added to make the paint dry faster as certain pigments make oil paint dry remarkably slow. Stabilizers are used in most linseed oil based paints as the pigment will spate itself from the binder over time if not stabilizer is used, beeswax is a historic example of a stabilizer (Van Vuuren, 2013). With all the possible combinations of these different additions to the core oil paint formula oil paint can be as complicated to make as the artist desires. Adding these ingredients also normally requires the heating of the mixture to specific temperatures depending on what the artist uses (Van Vuuren, 2013). The key to making good oil paint is to not add