Egg yolk. Tempera is a type of paint that uses egg yolk as a binding agent to hold together the color pigments.
Giotto used tempera type paints - pigments with a binder of egg yolk or sizing. He painted wet plaster (fresco) or on wood.
You may be referring to portraits made in "egg tempera." Egg Tempera was a European method of painting that used ground pigments mixed with egg and applied in fine thin layers. Egg Tempera portraits are most always small in size and rendered in fine and delicate detail. Many will crack over time.
The ancient Egyptians used the heads of reeds and wheat for their paint brushes. They painted on stone, and papyrus.
Daniel Varney Thompson has written: 'The materials and techniques of medieval painting' -- subject(s): Medieval Painting, Painting, Painting, Medieval, Pigments, Technique 'The practice of tempera painting' -- subject(s): Tempera painting
Limners in the Colonial times would sometimes used pigments and chalk to make watercolor paints. Just add water! But, to make Tempera paints they combined milk, lime and pigments. They also had oil paints which consisted of linseed oil and pigment. A cobalt compound was sometimes used to speed the drying. I hope this information will help you! :)
tempera paint.
Vince Tempera's birth name is Vincenzo Tempera.
tempera paint
Until the early 15th century most artists did. Also later there have been many artists who prefer the qualities of tempera to oil paint.
Tempera on Panel
ink and tempera on vellum