Caravaggio's Use of Egg Tempera

[@reinhardschleining]

emulsions are extremely fascinating. a german scholar named jaxtheimer published a few things about a technique he called "mischtechnik" where lean emulsions were applied on top of fat ones and vice verse which can apparently be done indefinitely with the paint films drying to the touch very quickly and eventually all layers drying into one fairly stable paint film. the nature of the emulsion would create pores that prevents the oil from ever cracking. it has been claimed that some older paintings like the van Eyck's used this approach to achieve their intricacy of details as well as having been fairly stable (with mainly the lead white prone to late cracking ...). meanwhile, the 'mayonnaise' you briefly mention does seem to have been employed by some capable painters. osamu obi (is on yt also) is a japanese master who also like yourself is a fantastic teacher. he has a different approach to recreate traditional way of painting and claims to have recreated the way people at Rembrandt's time have painted. Could be true. His results are perfect. Historically, what Caravaggio has been doing went to the Netherlands, and one of those so-called 'carravaggistas' was rembrandt's teacher as far as I remember. so from that perspective, it may be true as well. Another thing that came to mind when studying some of your excellent demonstrations was the place resins may still have. (Also mr osamu obi is a purist avoiding them). one of the books I read about recipes (hilaire hiler "notes on the technique of painting") mentions the preraffaelites using copal oil mediums. and eventually Gerome having had a copal based medium that made his images as "hard as flint". As a sculptor also, if true that this was his medium, he'd have known a few things about durability ... that hiler book also drops a quote from a colour manufacturer suggesting copal with standoil as the perfect varnish. And this I have found to be an extraordinary combination. an alcohol based emulsion (copal dissolves in isopropanol / ethanol) that creates a 'milk' with the addition of some standoil. When those oily pores eventually are completly dry (the film itself dries to the touch in a couple of hours), it is extremely hard and durable. Additions of wax can achieve any amount of gloss, satin/ matte that one desires ...

[@inkagarden8939]

Yeah, well, Osamu is doing it WRONG, don’t ask me why, the answer is very obvious. Also, I think people should treat eggs with a lot more respect. At the age of the old masters, eggs were precious, they are still, but bc of the way we now cruelly exploit laying hens and other animals, eggs are cheap, still, hens give their lives for those eggs, they lay eggs in miserable conditions, so discarding the egg white as it were garbage, that is WRONG as well, I wonder why a true Japanese would do such thing, anyways, his recipe is wrong too and his methods are not conductive to quality paint and you can see that in his paintings. Do not promote that guy.

[@lindagriggs8024]

Doesn't copal darken?

[@victoralosi1461]

I like the information your putting out . A experiment with tempra I’m conducting . 3 yolks 1fouth tsp vinegar . Mix cover let stand at room temp , for four or five days. This mix go well with stack lead made with flaxseed oils that have been defated with rosemary . Give it a try .

[@rossmcleod7983]

Thankyou Luis, always pick up some gems from you.

[@cuentamedenuevo7399]

Splendid video, Maestro Borrero. As always, thanks a lot for sharing but most importantly, for inspiring! 👌

[@madArt1981]

I learn so much from your videos, Thank you so much

[@HimmelsscheibeNebra]

Thanks for this great video and for your dedication to traditional arts and techniques.

[@imambaybars3405]

this channel is a very valuable resource, thank you for all of your hard work, but I have noticed one problem with some of the videos like this one, the sound is very low, I hope this issue would be addressed in the future. Thank you again for sharing your knowledge

[@andreuasencios3620]

Yo creo que ese tiempo ya usaban alguna especie de licuadora mecánica para emulsionar el huevo con el aceite, porque en ese tiempo se habla de preparaciones de lienzos donde se usaba harina o almidón como base y hasta mezclados con aceite, pero esas emulsiones de harina y huevo con aceite no se pueden hacer sin la ayuda de una fuerza centrifuga y triturante considerable. Ahora en ese sentido lo tenemos mas fácil, con las licuadoras.

[@janzawadzki132]

Using tempera egg + water does not give elasticity to the canvas. On canvas, you need tempera grassa (egg + oil) Try the method where you paint with tempera and continue to paint with oil on top. Another option(Annigoni did that) is when you paint in tempera grassa and wipe each layer with thick oil diluted in turpentine (1:5).

[@robcoyle5011]

Oil tempera is great for under painting.

[@robcoyle5011]

You can also paint with oil tempera only for highlights on a mid tone ground and film glaze the three primaries to build up your shadows between highlight sessions. Film glaze the entire panel over your first rough white highlights with yellow first followed by highlighting then a blue glaze then repeat for red and after a final highlight and an isolation glaze before coloured local glazes. You will end up with a fully chromatic optical gray scale and then can proceed with top glaze work. It’s very time consuming but the great thing is that the egg oil emulsion dries quickly and you can glaze over it with confidence

[@mcdonalds1499]

wow thank you man.

[@ivanihernandez3499]

Buenas tardes Luis, encuentro tan interesante tus vídeos pero me quedo limitada pela lengua, no hay posibilidad de subtitulados para español? Un saludo!!!

[@ivanihernandez3499]

@Diego Cordero gracias por la información, veo que ahora están subtitulados los videos ,antes no estaban por eso preguntaba...me alegro mucho y ya los miraré a todos,me encanta ese trabajo de Luis, un saludo a ti!!

[@raulavendano9271]

Thank you for sharing all this precious knowledge with us. I’ve reached for your courses and all ready find them super valuable. Small suggestion. Volume is quite low. Again thanks

[@antichimaestri7080]

Hello and congratulations for the video ... Has Caravaggio always highlighted with tempera also in the Capture of Christ at the National Gallery of Ireland? Did you use gouache initially or did you never stop using it? 

[@ThomiBMcIntyre]

Curious if the oil used in the egg/walnut combo on wet oil paint was salt refined? My salt refined oil dries almost overnight in thin application, and I think a fat tempera would dry not much faster

[@MaverickSeventySeven]

Sound is Low!

[@阿湯哥湯哥]

I would like to ask oil Tempera(linseed oil+yolk+water), when I start to paint,should I dilute with water or turpentine🙏？

[@knottedtwig3289]

Luis, I cannot attend the course but do you have a list of sources you have based it on? I'm very fascinated by his work and would love to know more.

[@LuisBorreroVisualArtist]

Hello: Thank you for commenting. I have used an array of books to organize my course. You can find all of them in my kit here👉🏻 kit.co/borreroart/my-recommended-book-list

[@knottedtwig3289]

@@LuisBorreroVisualArtist thank you! Will you be repeating this course next summer?

[@susanaavagnina9259]

El volumen está muy bajo

[@raulavendano9271]

Hi

[@Tom-po4dh]

Great videos but what's with all the unskippable ads?

[@meredith7236]

Put gloves on

[@lindagriggs8024]

Yes!!!! You have to set a better example for your students and fans. Please wear gloves especially when grinding lead.