with graduated values of ultramarine blue , lightened with lead white . Painting layers is much more difficult than in oil or acrylic , which bond to the substrate when they dry . The egg tempera painter must apply the paint carefully , to avoid picking up the layer beneath . One popular technique is to paint in parallel rows , applying the next layer in rows 90 degrees to those of the first layer , the next in rows 45 degrees to the second layer , and so on . Instead of the subtle “ wet-in-wet ” transitions of other media , egg tempera tones tend to be made with cross-hatched lines , which have an appealing beauty of their own .
Flesh tones called for two complementary layers . The Renaissance painter always began with terra verde , an earthy green , to work away from . The next step was to apply the flesh tones , usually in three values . Cennini warned the artist never to let those colors completely obscure the terra verde , because the contrast allowed for texture and variety .
As difficult and demanding as egg tempera is , it has many advantages . For one thing , the color neither dries darker , like oil or acrylic , nor lighter , like watercolor . When it does dry , it is remarkably durable and has an appealing sheen on the surface that is best appreciated in an art museum . Contemporary Spokane artist Stan Miller ( born 1949 ), says that the first time he saw Andrew Wyeth ’ s paintings , he noticed a “ semi-gloss ” quality . “ They looked mysterious , evoking curiosity as to what medium he was working in . I loved not knowing for sure what I was looking at — clearly not an oil , not a watercolor — it had a thickness to it , but not too thick … a pastel … no ?” Robert Vickrey ( 1926-2011 ) worked exclusively in tempera , which he preferred for its matte look . “ Oil paintings look greasy to me ,” he said .
The medium predated the Italian Renaissance by centuries , but it persisted nearly to the end of the 15th century . One of its greatest early masters was the Sienese painter Duccio di Buoninsegna ( c . 1260-c . 1319 ), who painted a huge altarpiece entitled the “ Virgin in Majesty ” between 1308 and 1311 . In the front and back were several smaller paintings
scattered today in museums all over the world , like “ The Calling of the Apostles Peter and Andrew .” The background , like that of all the pictures in the altarpiece , is gold leaf , an essential feature in religious art of the early Renaissance . The rock formation behind Christ may look mannered and without texture but compared to the stiff Byzantine tradition that came before Duccio , his approach has a refreshing , naturalistic look .
A century and a half later , painting really loosened up . Fra Filippo Lippi ( 1406-1469 ) was a reluctant monk who met an equally reluctant nun named Lucrezia and fell in love . They both had to leave holy orders when Lucrezia got pregnant with their son — the future master Filippino Lippi . Perhaps enjoying the irony , Lippi posed his beloved as the Blessed Mother in his “ Madonna and Child with Two Angels ,” from about 1455 . With only a hint of a halo , her forehead plucked in the fashion of the day , the youthful Virgin sports a transparent headdress that must have been a challenge in the tempera medium . One of the angels mischievously looks at us as he hoists the Christ child — a break from the earlier tradition of bizarrely unreal babies — up to his mother . Through a window behind them is a rocky Tuscan landscape , the sort Leonardo da Vinci would later master . At this point it is still more linear than textured , as is the painting as a whole .
Duccio , “ The Calling of the Apostles Peter and Andrew ,” 1308
“ They looked mysterious , evoking curiosity as to what medium he was working in . I loved not knowing for sure what I was looking at — clearly not an oil , not a watercolor — it had a thickness to it , but not too thick … a pastel … no ?”
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