Egg yolk tempera

• Egg yolk tempera: History
• Egg yolk tempera: technique
• Examples of egg yolk tempera paintings

Egg yolk tempera is a painting technique uppermost found in sarcophagi decorations of Egyptians but mostly spread in classical world during Middle Age when it have taken over from encaustic painting. After appearing, it immediately became the main method used for illustrated manuscripts and panel painting of Byzantine period, and in paintings of European Medieval and Early Renaissance up to 1500, when oil painting had the upper hand.

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Egg yolk tempera is a particular colored mixture based on yolk of the egg (the white and even the membrane are discarded) joined with natural powdered pigments such as vermillion. The results is a particular tempera whose density depends by constant proportion of yolk and water. In fact the mixture dries on contact to air so quickly that the artist has to continually adjust it with water. Anyhow this peculiarity allows painters being more precise than traditional techniques because they can apply thin and semi-transparent layers one above the other.

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Thank to egg yolk tempera technique the painter can create more life-like shade of color and grey and obtain a more vivid a poetic depiction. So it shows you some work of Silvia Salvadori, a specialist in medieval art reproduction, where the artist had applied this method.