Method of painting in which the pigment is carried in an egg, casein, gum, or glycerine solution in water. The process of painting in tempera is the oldest method of painting known; the wall paintings of ancient Egypt and Babylonia, and of the Mycenaean period in Greece (1400?-1200 BC), were probably executed in tempera with a medium of egg yolk, to which a little vinegar was sometimes added. The use of tempera subsequently became widespread throughout Europe and reached its height in Italy. The ground on which 13th- and 14th-century Florentine painters Giotto, Cimabue, and their contemporaries painted was usually plaster of paris, known as gesso.

The method of preparing a panel was first to fill all the cracks and crevices in a poplar, lime, or willow panel with a mixture of size, or glue, and sawdust. The panel was then covered with a piece of fine linen cloth, which was kept in place with size, and this surface was coated with heavy gesso, known as gesso grasso. Finally, a lighter gesso coating called gesso sottile, which provided the painting surface, was laid on with a brush.

Because the surface was very absorbent, the painter was forced to work with great rapidity and sureness. Italian painters of the Renaissance ground their colors by hand and mixed the powdered colors with the medium. Today, however, tempera paints are prepared in tubes and pots, requiring only the addition of water or of some other medium, usually casein. Tempera paints are opaque and matte (no gloss), and they remain stable in color for long periods. Egg tempera can be buffed once it is completely dry to yield a rich, lustrous finish.

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"Tempera Painting," Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 98 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.