Making the Colour Green: Egg Tempera versus Oil | National Gallery

Watch a painting demonstration to learn about the different properties of green pigments bound in egg tempera and those mixed with oil. Then see how these were used to achieve very different effects in masterpieces from the National Gallery's collection.
Pigments made from mineral clays, known as 'green earths' from egg tempera, were used by Italian artists of the 13th to 15th centuries as a base colour for flesh. These dry quickly. Oil paint, often made using walnuts or linseed, dries slowly to form a tough film. It can be used as an opaque paint or built up as a translucent glaze.
Find out more about the artist Jan van Eyck: www.nationalgallery.org.uk/ar...
This film accompanied the National Gallery exhibition 'Making Colour' (18 June - 7 September 2014): www.nationalgallery.org.uk/mak...
Watch more on our Channel:
www.nationalgallery.org.uk/cha...
#ColourTheory #ArtHistory #NationalGallery

[@crgaillee]

I learned more in these 2.8 minutes than I have learned in five years.

[@Capricosm]

That says a lot about you

[@sore5246]

true learning comes through practice

[@JeremyWorst]

Facts..

[@isabs8616]

Egg tempera dries quickly, but not deeply dry, so you can rework on it with water and a brush to find textures.

[@NancyMonizMondegro]

Egg tempera: a painting technique after my own heart. Nicely done video.

[@TsetsiStoyanova]

This is absolutely amazing

[@wisdommorepreciousthanrubi8321]

I used to love going to national gallery on day trips to London. It's my favourite place.

[@giulias.5104]

What is the name of the mixing glass utensil please? Update. I found it, it is called: glass muller and glass palette. 😉

[@atardezco]

thanks!

[@mirandas2013]

Beautiful paints and Beautiful Art

[@martadominkak]

Thank you for this very informative and interesting video!

[@romulusbuta9318]

a more complex formula . I put her an example : linseed oil + resin (hard of soft, sometime bouth ) + balsams ( like "Venetian terbenin" or "Canadian balsam" ) + terbenin esence and maybe driers, sicatifs..... This tipe of binder provides a very diferent aspect of the paint film respect to use only oil as a binder . As I see, Michael Harding provides few mediums /binders formulated from ancient recepies . Well to know : resin and balsams contains by the medium provides transparenci and gloss , and bees wax provides a mat valvet opaque / semiopaque finish ( depends of how opaque or transparent is the pigment ). So ,for painting with the same pictorical materia like Memmling or Tiziano is not enough to add row oil to the pigments !

[@painterofthemind1343]

In Renaissance prints, a young man is seen in the background, of an artist's studio, thought to be mulling oil into pigment and preparing oil paint. Is he mulling oil into pigment or grinding the dry pigment (with water), to the correct particle size for the artist.? When creating oil paint , perhaps the pigment is prepared ahead of time to the correct particle size. It is then not necessary to mull the oil and pigment. The artist just mixes it with oil using a palette knife. This is the method I use, as well as, James Groves. It is called "rubbing up" the pigment. It makes much more sense to a painter, while working, than mulling each color which is laborious and time consuming and not needed. I learned this from James Groves, an artist well versed in technical art history and paint making .

[@nidaljabarin4743]

what is the best to paint with the egg temperature on the canvas or something else?

[@ZZmsz]

just curious: can we paint with liquid acrylic ?

[@ganimated8862]

what was the green pigment used in the demonstration?

[@dubanonymouse]

she said terra verte,i believe...like many pigments, just ground dirt of different colors....sOUNDS MORE IMPRESSIVE IF WE USE LATIN,FRENCH OR OTHER ANTIQUE NOMENCLATURE......trying to replace xtianity with "art" has led us to smarmy acedemics maundering on pointlessly making points ,with vaguely inspirational background music,the new priests...painters used to be WORKERS ,doing their job ,pushing greasy mud on canvas...nice job...lets go back...

[@romulusbuta9318]

Natural green earth or substitule ( artificial ).

[@matiasmonzon8626]

Terra verde se llama pero si no lo consigues en las tiendas puedes pobrar mezclando el verde de cadmio mas el tierra de sombra natural o el tierra de siena tostado (muy poco porque lo oscureceras mucho)

[@raniazakaria4602]

What’s the green pigment used ?

[@romulusbuta9318]

Off corse the italian egg tempera painers did not intend to delivere to us greenish tone skin figures . This rezult is the work of time ! About van Eyck ...In that period , the painers din add to their dry-pigments not only oil ( lin seed, valnut, maybe poppy ) but a more complex formula that contains

[@moi1310]

cliff hanger...

[@MrBenji0]

Well? Finish the sentence already

[@madisona.pennell2748]

Does anyone know what kind of pigment I should buy on amazon or ebay? I just want to make sure I got the right stuff and not like glitter or something. I do have a bowl to grind my pigment but I want to know if I can buy it in hopes to save money and time.

[@TheLightFantasticArt]

Get your pigment from an art supply store instead. They’ll only have the right stuff. You don’t need to grind it either, it usually comes ready to mull with oil or your medium of choice.

[@rdt1104]

If you want to save money, go to a hardware store and ask for oxides, it's used for colouring cement. Same thing, more or less. Much cheaper.

[@alexvidamo]

Hi, can you paint egg tempara in aluminium board? Thanks

[@nelsonferreira-aulasdearte]

You can if you use a special primer specifically made for both aluminium and egg tempera. Rublev does a fantastic modern tempera ground that can be painted over scuffed Dibond panels. Traditional gesso won't hold on to Dibond, yet this modern formula will.

[@giulias.5104]

@@nelsonferreira-aulasdearte I am curious, why use aluminium? Does it make any difference once is primed?

[@rickh3714]

@@giulias.5104 If they are talking about aluminium sheet in small panels it is rigid and very light. If they are talking about di-bond/aluminum it's commonly used to as a substrate to bond gallery mounted art photographs- some very large. If they're talking about honeycombed aluminum it is light and rigid. Skateboards (circ.1979 Kryptonics deck) and more commonly aircraft have been made from it. The aluminum surface would likely need to be roughened by either a chemical conversion coating (etching) or sanded lightly to provide tooth for an acrylic gesso ground or similar. I did a small oil on sanded/toothed aluminum on acrylic gesso in the early 80's as a highschool art student. Seems mostly Ok given my fair knowledge at the time. Artists of the past sometimes used small copper sheets (possibly re-used etching plates) as substrates for small oil miniatures/landscapes.

[@hexkwondo]

I think I am going to switch to oil painting soon

[@thefemmeguide]

Are those free range eggs? :)

[@profx4655]

That was perthetic Nancy moniz

[@TheObSeRvErTheObSeRv]

OIL IS KING.

[@John-mz8rj]

I have bacon with my eggs