what is tempera

Tempera, also known as egg tempera, is a painting medium consisting of pigments mixed with a water-soluble binder medium, usually glutinous material such as egg yolk. The term "tempera" comes from the Italian "dipingere a tempera" which means "paint in distemper". Tempera was used as a painting medium as early as the 3rd century and was in constant use in most of the worlds cultures until it was gradually superseded by oil paints in Europe during the Renaissance. Traditional tempera painting is a lengthy process that involves using smooth surfaces such as planed wood, fine set plaster, stone, paper, vellum, canvas, and modern composition boards of compressed wood or paper as supports. The luminous gesso base of a tempera painting, combined with the cumulative effect of overlaid color washes, produces a unique depth and intensity of color. Tempera paints dry lighter in value, but their original tonality can be restored by subsequent waxing or varnishing. Todays tempera paint is a distemper paint that binds its pigment with materials such as starch, cornstarch, cellulose, gum-water, or another glue size.