tempera paints considered to be the most ancient. Where and when did this ancient type of painting originate, in what types of fine arts did it become widespread and how is it used in modern times. The article will discuss what tempera is, what it is made of and what types exist.

Tempera: definition, history

AT fine arts there are many types of colors. What is tempera? Translated from Latin, the word temperare means "to connect, mix." Tempera is both a type of painting and paint, obtained by mixing a dry coloring pigment with a binder emulsion.

Tempera paints are the oldest coloring matter in history. Even more than three thousand years ago, ancient Egyptian artists painted the walls of tombs and sarcophagi with it. Tempera paints were widely used in icon painting. Famous ancient Russian icon painters of the 14th-15th centuries, such as Theophanes the Greek and Andrei Rublev, painted their creations in the traditional tempera technique. The faces of the saints were depicted on primed boards, which were then covered with a layer of varnish or drying oil. Since the 15th century in Europe and since the 18th century in Russia, tempera painting has been gradually replacing oil painting. However, at the beginning of the 20th century, this type of painting is gaining popularity again, it is widely used both in painting and in arts and crafts.

Composition, types

By and large, it should be noted that tempera is a special way of creating a coloring material, and not the paint itself. The main components of the paint are dry powders of natural or artificial pigments and emulsion binders. The composition of the binder emulsion may include: casein glue, chicken egg, gum arabic, dextrin glue, soap solution. Natural tempera is a paint that the artist himself makes, using natural ingredients to dilute it: chicken egg yolk, water, or some other preservative (for example, vinegar, wine). Natural tempera is mainly used in icon painting: thanks to it, a deep, saturated color is obtained, the effect of glaze on majolica. Modern artists are increasingly using tempera based on substances of synthetic origin (glue, oils, polymers). Depending on what substance is the main one in the composition of the binder emulsion, tempera paints are divided into 3 types:

• egg;
• wax-casein-oil;

egg tempera

This type of tempera was widely used by medieval Renaissance painters, as well as Russian icon painters of the 15th-16th centuries. Both a whole chicken egg and its parts: protein or yolk were added to egg tempera. Yolk-based paint has gained particular popularity. It was he who was mixed with water, varnish, oil, wax and other components. Egg-water and egg-lacquer tempera were widely used in their work by Palekh masters when painting miniatures and icons. The main components of the binder in egg tempera are chicken yolk, pictorial and turpentine varnishes. Previously, Italian painters added grated tops from fig tree branches or a mixture of wine and water to egg tempera, German painters - beer, Russian icon painters - bread kvass. Nowadays, modern icon painters working in the old technique add apple or table vinegar as a preservative to yolk tempera.

PVA, wax-oil and casein tempera paints

Casein paints are water-borne pigments, the main component of which is casein (a protein of milk origin). It also contains linseed oil and phenolic resin. This type of tempera is applied only on a special basis: primed canvases, planks, thick paper.

Wax-oil tempera, in addition to pigment, includes wax, vegetable oils, resins and other additives. It is diluted with any industrial solvents, such as white spirit, pinene, turpentine, as well as fatty vegetable oils, drying oil. When diluted with water, you can work as a watercolor.

Cons: takes a long time to dry.

Advantages: bright, juicy palette when applied, mixes well with oil paints. Many artists know that such a tempera darkens after drying, but if gouache is used instead of white, the color becomes lighter.

PVA tempera. What? It is based on a mixture of synthetic resins, stabilizers, structurants. It is the most popular in recent times, as it is used in almost all paint application techniques and fits perfectly on any dry and hard surface.

The main advantages of tempera paint

The main advantage of this paint is fast drying, strength and durability. The dried layer of paint adheres reliably to the work surface, it cannot be dissolved even with water. This property of the paint is indispensable, for example, during transportation or further processing of the finished canvas. It works great with whites. The peculiarity of tempera is that it can be written in various techniques: apply thinly or create thick pasty writing. It can be poured on any surface: wooden, paper, canvas, using various types and shapes of brushes. The symbiosis of glue and oil contained in the paint contributes to the fact that on the working canvas it turns out to be elastic, shiny and does not crack. The color of tempera paints, unlike oil paints, changes upon drying, becoming more matte. To obtain a glossy surface, various varnishes are used, for example, dammar, mastic or drying oil. Another difference between tempera and oil paints is their durability and resistance to external influences.

This type of paint has been used for more than 3 thousand years - they have been used for centuries in easel painting, widely used in icon painting. The sarcophagi of the pharaohs of ancient Egypt are painted by them. Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Correggio used it when writing their works. Oil paints, upon their appearance, for some time became more popular among professional artists, tempera continued to live in folk painting.

Time showed the difference - when oil paintings fade, darken, canvases made in tempera retain their brightness and saturation of shades.

What are tempera paints?

The name arose from the combination "mixing colors" (from the Latin "temperare"), since this type of paint, both before and now, is obtained by mixing the components. Tempera paint consists of several components - a powder coloring pigment in the base, binder(one of several options - natural or artificial), oil, water.

When mixed in the right proportion, a thick homogeneous mass is obtained, which is easily mixed with water to obtain a lighter shade or perform finer writing, glazing. The variety of techniques and textures possible with the use of tempera makes the artist's work truly creative. Tempera paints allow you to write in different techniques, on different substrates - canvas, wood, cardboard, paper - the most common of modern foundations for tempera painting.

What tempera paints to buy?

In their composition, tempera paints differ in the binder component that determines the properties and appearance finished work. As an emulsion use:

• Whole egg or only its yolk, diluted with water;
• Casein-oil, (here vegetable oil is used to dilute the casein, drying out afterwards);
• PVA (polyvinyl acetate);
• acrylic;
• Wax oil.

Eggs are prepared at home, the rest - in an industrial way.

The use of various emulsions makes the texture of the finished product more diverse. For example, you can buy tempera paints with acrylic as an emulsion in matte, semi-gloss or glossy. A traditional egg mix will have a more velvety texture when dry. A work made with wax-oil tempera does not require additional coating (wax does an excellent job of protecting it). Which tempera paints to buy depends on the effect that the artist wants to achieve in the end.

Benefits of buying tempera paints

Previously made independently by artists at home, tempera paints are now produced on an industrial scale. Paints home cooking have a shorter shelf life than factory ones. At home, they are usually prepared from an egg (or just the yolk) at a time.

The industrial production of tempera has solved a number of issues - the exact observance of proportions allows you to get stable predictable shades, the tubes are more compact, they are convenient to use. An increase in the shelf life allows you to start work and finish it, not focusing on the amount of prepared paint. In addition, the artist has a reduced number of preparatory work and more time is left for direct creativity.

Today you can buy tempera paints ready-made both in sets and in individual tubes. In addition to those already described, there are other advantages of using this type of paint:

They lay down easily and tightly, providing uniform coverage, clear detailing; Used for different surfaces; Wide possibilities for writing in different techniques; A variety of emulsions allows you to further expand the possibilities of the artist; Do not crack over time; Retain color and shades for centuries without changing (some types of emulsion will require additional varnishing for durability); Bright saturated colors, comfortable and interesting in creativity.

Given the many advantages of modern tempera, it is not surprising that this type of paint is so popular among contemporary artists. It is certainly easier to buy tempera paints of the right shades, in the required quantity, for which the period of use is not limited to days, than to make them.

How to keep high quality paints?

Despite the fact that the shelf life of tempera paints, which you can buy directly on the site, is significantly higher than those prepared at home, certain conditions must be observed in order to maintain quality indicators, structure and be able to fully use it in your work.

High-quality paint, regardless of the type of emulsion, is a thick homogeneous mixture that does not delaminate, does not thicken and does not have unpleasant odors after storage in a tube. If, when opening the tube, one of the listed shortcomings is found - you should not use it - the paint is either of poor quality, or was stored in the wrong conditions, or the expiration date has expired.

In this case, you will most likely have to buy tempera paints of this shade again, so it is important to initially choose a reliable manufacturer and store, as well as follow the storage rules after purchase. It is impossible to freeze or overheat such paint, the ideal temperature for it is room temperature. Also, do not leave in direct sunlight - this disrupts the structure of the tempera.

Some types of tempera paint may slightly change color after drying - this depends on the type of emulsion, but none of them crack over time.

Modern basis for writing in tempera

The variety of interests of a modern creative person may not be limited to one or two types of working material. Landscape on canvas, painting on a box, miniature on stone - tempera has one of the widest areas of application. Equally well lays down and on a wooden surface, and on a canvas, and on a stone. Universal professional paint will satisfy the most demanding artists.

Polyvinyl acetate tempera is a highly dispersed pasty water-based mixture of synthetic resin, stabilizers and structuring agents. This type of tempera differs from oil-breech and egg tempera in a number of properties.

Polyvinyl acetate tempera paints are transparent, elastic and can be applied both pasty and glazing.

Painting with synthetic tempera - maybe multi-layered, each new layer is superimposed on the dried previous one without fear of peeling paints.

Distinctive feature tempera is its rapid drying: after 1 - 2 hours in thin layers and 3-4 hours in pasty ones.

Polyvinyl acetate tempera, which is itself water-soluble, must not be mixed with other water-soluble paints. So, in a mixture with oil-casein tempera, the paints curdle and are poorly spread over the surface of the picturesque base.

The thinner of paints is water, but after drying, they can be dissolved only with a special wash, which is a mixture of ethyl acetate with a solution of ethyl alcohol, taken in a ratio of 1: 1.

In the process of working, the paints, although they contain up to 50% water, should be squeezed out of the tubes into rings of wet cotton wool to retain moisture in them. Polyvinyl acetate tempera paints dry quickly. This requires certain skills from the painter.

Brushes must be kept in a jar of water during work, after work they should be thoroughly rinsed with water. If the paint dries on the brushes, they are washed with a wash or 70-75% ethyl alcohol.

You can work with polyvinyl acetate tempera on a variety of surfaces: on canvas with synthetic and emulsion (oil-adhesive) primers, on paper, cardboard, wood, plaster, concrete, linoxin linoleum, glass and many other surfaces, i.e. these paints are universal pictorial material, especially in arts and crafts and design art.

Drying, some paints change somewhat in hue:

Lighten slightly: chromium oxide and burnt oxide.

Significantly lighter: cobalt blue and ocher.

Slightly darker: cadmium yellow and red, light ocher and burnt sienna. At the same time, light ocher and burnt sienna, applied to paper, darken significantly, and then the degree of their darkening decreases.

They darken more noticeably: English red, caput-mortuum, burnt umber and red kraplak.

Strongly darken: natural sienna, emerald green and ultramarine (in the hull layer).

The surface of polyvinyl acetate painting is matte. To obtain a surface saturated in color, the painting is covered with one of the top coats, such as dammar, acrylic pistachio and others. By diluting the varnish with pinene, you can get a different degree of gloss painting. The most favorable dilution of varnish in a ratio of 1:1. The painting, covered with varnish, acquires depth and color saturation, but at the same time, with the deepening of the tone of the colors, the painting seems darker.

Paints should be stored at room temperature, and not below 0 degrees. Warranty period of storage of paints - 1 year. The number of stars indicates the degree of lightfastness of the paint: three stars - high lightfastness, two stars - medium, one star - low lightfastness.

When paint is applied to the base, elastic films are formed. To wash off the dried paint coating, a mixture of ethyl acetate with aqueous ethyl alcohol is used. Polyvinyl acetate paints cannot be mixed with casein-oil tempera while working, which artists often do when there is a lack of any colors in certain paints.

Modern tempera may well compete in strength with ancient tempera and oil painting, and its properties and capabilities are well suited to the requirements various kinds contemporary fine arts.

In addition to the types of tempera listed above, which are the most common, there are also wax and gum tempera. However, the composition of the binders of these paints includes rarer substances and their preparation is much more difficult.

The following dyes are most often used in the preparation of tempera:

white - lead, zinc, titanium white;

yellow - yellow ocher, natural sienna, mars yellow, mars orange, cadmium yellow, cadmium orange, aureolin, strontium yellow, yellow buckthorn varnish;

red - natural and artificial cinnabar (pink, red and cherry), cadmium red, English red, mars red, natural carmine, natural kraplak;

violet - mars violet, cobalt violet, violet varnishes from blackberries, blackberries;

green - emerald green, chromium oxide, earth green, volkonskoite, glauconite green, cobalt green, buckthorn green varnishes;

blue - natural and artificial ultramarine, cobalt blue, mountain blue, Prussian blue, indigo;

brown - mars brown, brown alder bark varnish, earth browns, burnt ocher, burnt sienna, Van Dyck brown;

black - grape black, Frankfurt black, burnt ivory, wood black, stone fruit black from pits of cherries, apricots, peaches.

Wax-oil tempera

In the modernized tempera, PVA emulsion and casein-oil emulsion are used as a binder (which has greater strength due to the content of oil and resin in the composition).

Casein tempera hardens quickly, becomes insoluble in water, has good adhesion to the material it is applied to (wood, canvas, metal, stone and glass), but cracks over time.

The paint made on the basis of PVA emulsion and pigment is called PVA tempera. It is mainly used for outdoor wall painting and when painting scenery. The main disadvantage of PVA tempera is its low light fastness.

Encaustic paints are paints made by mixing pigment with wax, resin and oil. The history of these colors goes back to ancient times. In Egypt, they were used to paint tombs and mummies. In Greece, wax paints were known to ancient artists, but, unfortunately, none of the works have survived to our time, only a mention in literary sources remains.

What is wax oil tempera?

Wax-oil tempera is the new kind paints with unique qualities, combining the properties of encaustic, oil and watercolor paints. They are made on the basis of high-quality pigments, the binder for which is a complex composition of vegetable oil, distilled water, natural beeswax, soft resin and other components. Paints are easy to use due to their pastosity and spreadability.

The uniqueness of wax-oil tempera lies in the fact that these are transparent paints that allow you to create complex colors and shades and obtain a three-dimensional image by applying one color to another. Wax and soft resin in the composition of the binder provide a longer mobility of paints compared to casein-oil, polyvinyl acetate and acrylic tempera.

When dried, wax-oil tempera does not dissolve with water, has increased resistance to external influences of the surrounding aggressive environment, does not change in tones over time compared to oil painting, and forms a matte surface.

The drying speed of wax-oil tempera paints is somewhat higher compared to oil ones due to the content of wax in the composition. However, thanks to the wax, the paints do not change tone when dry and mix well with other art materials, both oil-based and water-based. You can speed up the drying of tempera by adding it to a non-desiccating agent.

Similar information.

Tempera paint, or as it is also called tempera, is made on the basis of an emulsion binder and pigment. The name comes from Latin word"Tempera", which translates as "to mix".

Tempera paints were used even before their appearance and were widely used. For example, they were absolutely indispensable in icon painting. Their history goes back over 3500 years.

The binder of tempera paints consists of three elements: water, various types of glue, which varies according to the type of tempera, and oil. Emulsifying agents include egg white and yolk, gum arabic, dextrin and soap. The adhesive solution, when combined with oil particles, creates an emulsion. In this state, the oil makes the paints elastic and prevents them from cracking.

By its properties, tempera is something intermediate between glue and oil paints. It can also be diluted with water, as well as with oil. And she can work both on paper and on canvas. In principle, they are applicable to any kind of surface, but it is better to use soft and elastic brushes. In terms of shape, flat or round brushes are recommended.

The main advantages of tempera include the speed of its drying, which greatly speeds up the process, and its amazing durability - works made with tempera retain their brightness for many centuries.

Today, tempera paints are manufactured industrially and sold in sets.

Types of tempera paints

Based on the component on the basis of which the emulsion is made for diluting tempera, there are egg, casein-oil and gum arabic tempera, which is also called glutinous. In other words, the name of the paint is derived from the binder used to "mash" the dry pigment.

Egg tempera was especially common in the Middle Ages and was used for a long time even after the advent of oil paints. Egg-based paint dissolves easily, mixes and practically does not change its color when dried, neither brightening nor darkening. Works made with egg tempera retain color saturation and brightness for a very long time.

Casein oil tempera is a water-soluble paint, which consists of the smallest pigments mixed with an emulsion of linseed oil and an aqueous solution of casein. This type of paint involves working on primed canvas, cardboard and wood. After drying, it quickly hardens and adheres firmly to the base. Today it is the most common type of tempera.

Gum arabic, or glue, tempera is based on glue, for example, PVA. She is recommended to work not only on paper, cardboard and plywood, but also on linoleum, plaster, concrete, glass. However, glue tempera should not be mixed with other types of paints.

Tempera paints can be called without exaggeration one of the most ancient art materials. People have been painting with them for over 3500 years. It was with such paints that the sarcophagi of the ancient Egyptians were painted, they were preferred by ancient Russian icon painters, they were painted with them. the greatest masters stories: Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael. These paints require certain skills, and at the same time, only thanks to them you can achieve the most natural color.

What are the benefits of tempera?

The most important advantage of tempera paints is their durability. In fact, this conclusion was reached relatively recently. It all started with the appearance in the 16th century oil paints, which did not dry out as quickly and made it possible to make smoother transitions. As a result, tempera was almost forgotten. And only centuries later it became clear that the oil tends to turn yellow and burn out, and the same Egyptian sarcophagi and icons painted in tempera, meanwhile, retained their original brightness.

• Tempera paints slightly change tone when dry. Therefore, if you want to make any corrections, it is better to moisten the area to be corrected with water and wait a bit.
• In order for the finished work to acquire saturation and transparency, it is recommended to varnish it. This should be done no earlier than 20 to 30 days later. Prior to this, it is desirable to cover the work with a 4% solution of gelatin glue.
• The picture cannot be stored at temperatures below zero, as the paint delaminates. Heating also has a bad effect on the structure of the emulsion. Optimum temperature- room.