Jan van Eyck's use of Tempera

[veng]

thanks ken!! just ordered the van eyck book :)

Looking forward to using the tepmera and oil together!

[veng]

thanks ken!! just ordered the van eyck book :)

Looking forward to using the tepmera and oil together!

[Saturn]

MarkoStephano ,
There is great speculation on the objects of painting mediums and especially about the mediums of the great brothers Eyck. Most of the erroneous oppinions on the subjects come from authors whose books are well worth of reading but contain also parts which are based only on pure visual observation and great creative imagination.In this category fall the description of Jan van Eyck`s process given by Max Doerner and Jaques Maroger. I am not going to talk about their comments on the matter because as I said above they are erroneous.
The meaning of the word ` Tempera` or `Temperare` in the past was used to describe the process of `mixing` the pigments with some form of liquid that would bind them sufficiently well to be considered paints.For example Chenninni in XV century uses that word to describe both egg yolk, egg white, vernice liquida and other substances too by calling them tempera. He called vernice liquida ( the thick resin-oil varnish for covering tempera pictures)`the strongest tempera`. In the more modern and present times tempera simply means egg -pigment mixture or egg-oil mixture , sometimes combinations of other binders or even guache which is improperly called tempera.
When we think of the use of tempera in a painting from XV century we should think about this word in the way that the Renaissance painters did.Not in the meaning that we give it today. That Renaissance tempera is not only egg paint but also all other possible binders and most often pure glue which would be more properly called just disstemper. If we start using this word dissteemper then we would start understanding the origin of confussion. Yes. Jan Van Eyck used disstempera in the initial drawing done directly on the white ground and this dissteempera was simple chiaroscuro drawing including the outlines of the forms and the light shading . You can see this distemper preparation in the unfinished `St. Barbara` . This disstemper paint did not contain egg at all. It was either simple animal glue-water solution and pigment or ink, or what was very often used in Renaissance times - pure finely ground pigment mixed with pure water and used to shade the drawing on the absorbent white ground. With this the use of `tempera` in the paintings of Van Eyck finishes. Then comes isolation of the ground to make it nonabsorbent with few coats of weak animal glue solution and then transparent flesh coloured oil imprimatura done in oil colours. On top of this the painter worked as much as possible alla-prima and where necessary using underpaintings in local colours but much lighter or in colours that would increase the brightness of the glazed paint. For example under bright warm green -yellow-white , under firery red- pink or orange etc....The paint contains linseed oil, pigments and in a case of glazes also resin-oil varnishes or essential oil varnishes. This is because not only van Eyck but all early Renaissance masters added oil-resin varnishes or thickeened boiled oils to the transparent and especially to all dark oil colours to increase their viscosity , facilitate handling, preserve the pigments from the atmpsphere and finally to increase the gloss and beauty of the thinly applied paints and to prevent sinking in of the dark paints.Many painters like Raphael for example added such thick vehicles not only to the dark and transparent parts but also to all other colours even white especially in his early works. In a case the pigments were injuried by the admixture of raw oils these same pigments were applied with essential-oil varnishes like balsams dissolved in spike oil, naphta or turpentine. The resins found in the paintings of Jan Van Eyck pictures are dyterpenoid type resins which hypotetically include and could have been balsams( ordinary pine resins too), sandarak, copal and amber( these latter still canot be identified in oil films if very aged even when their existence is documented) It is very untrue information that the pictures of Van Eyck do not contain resins and include only linseed oil. He did use resin-oil varnishes and this use is well documented by the present scientific research although not in all of his works.( Note that not so many of his works were examined).
So this is the secret of Van Eyck. He treated the back of his famous Anolfini painting in the National Gallery at London in the same way that he treated usually the front under the paint layers- that is with white chalk -glue ground , then isolated with animal glue and finally transparent oil paint. In the case of the back of the famous picture this is black oil paint.
This is not to say that we know everything about his painting technique . Just want to inform you that all serious writers and investigators of the technique of Van Eyck believe that his technique is oil-resin technique or oil-heat-bodied oil technique which includes the use of very fast drying oil and probably essential oils for which there are many indications in the literature.( For example that in fresh state his paintings had pungend odor. This is not typical for pure- oil paint, but is the main sign of using slowly evaporating essential oils like Spike oil or in a lesser degree essence of turpentine).
The mixed techniques of alterating tempera and oil colours of which your enquiry was about did exist in his time and earlier. But in a much more primitive style of painting and used by much less able artists than Jan Van Eyck.
Hope that this helps.

[Orp]

I haven't yet been able to lay in a sharp line into oil with tempera. There must be a type of tempera that can replicate the individual hairs of the Bindo Altoviti portrait by Raphael. I've tried a few recipes but all I've gotten up to now is some chalky fuzzy lines.

Or perhaos the secret of making those fine hairs in Raphael and Van Eyck is that there isn't any tempera, but a thixatropic cover layer that can hold a sharp ridge of paint.

When all else fails I say you might as well try Epoxide Oil.

[Saturn]

Orp,
It is not easy to duplicate something done with one material by using another materials. If you understand what i mean...

[Kenneth Freed]

Saturn, your theory concerning oil/resin varnishes makes sense to me in viewing the work but there is considerable disagreement among scientists that have written analyzing paintings of Van Eyck. It would be fair to say that there are a number of scientist who analyzed the paintings that would say that no such oil/resin glazes exist. Now as you point out, it may well be that they have not figured out how to detect their presence as you have alluded to.
In looking at Van Eyck paintings and using my own experience with materials as my point of reference, I would say it would be easier to duplicate the effects seen in these paintings with oil/resin glazes. The other aspect to these works is that if such oil/resin glazes are used, during the course of their becoming tacky to the touch, if would hold in place a stroke of an egg/oil emulsion paint or even a stroke of oil/resin paint. The key is to determine that exact degree of tackiness that you want prior to floating the stroke into it to arrest the paint.

Alot of what I have felt about Van Eyck's works by intuition and experience with materials do not seem to be reflected by scientific research.
Your reported aspect of glue tempera or distemper makes sense in the underpainting and I have not experimented with it enough to know whether it could be used into a wet layer of oil paint as well.

Much to think about concerning your post, thank you.

[Saturn]

Mr. Freed,
Thank you for your cooment on my post. It is always interesting to discuse these thechniques. The best part in this is that we always learn new things and this is all delightful.
To say the truth I am not familiar with the detailed reports of the scientists who found no resins in the works of Van Eyck. But on the other hand I am familiar with one report of scientists who did find resins on 3 places of a painting and something which I am sure you would be interested to know- they did not find any evidences of protein binders.
The technique used to find the dyterpenoid resins was gas chromatography-mass spectrometry
and the technique used to not find proteins is high-pressure liquid chromatography.
The resins found in this particular case ( In the picture `Annunciation` at Washington) were on three different parts of the picture which means that they were not there by accident.
This is one good example of resins incorporated in Van Eyck`s picture and the scientist who found them is named Suzanne Quillen Lomax.
I make no claim that the other paintings by Eyck are painted in the same way with the same materials. On the other hand many paintings by Veronese were cleaned during XIX century and the restoreres found that the colours can be washed by water. By doing so they readily assumed that the paint is tempera. Indeed some parts of the pictures of Veronese were painted in distempera( animal glue or starch paste) and these are mostly the colours which Veronese thought will turn dark if used in oil alone like the blues for example. In many other cases pictures which were hung on South walls in churches for centuries where they could reseive big doses of sun rays aquired the dry appearance of tempera and could also be easily washed with water.Most of the XV century paintings
lost naturally their original final varnishes and by time also aquired the dry appearance of tempera until they were again covered with modern varnishes.I do not see any reasons to use tempera combined with oils in the case of Van Eyck since these fine details can very easily be imitated in oil using the right technique and materials too. And now another reason why I personally do not believe Eyck used tempera-because this is not in accordance with the visual appearance of his works.

[Orp]

Originally posted by Kenneth Freed:
Saturn, your theory concerning oil/resin varnishes makes sense to me in viewing the work but there is considerable disagreement among scientists that have written analyzing paintings of Van Eyck. It would be fair to say that there are a number of scientist who analyzed the paintings that would say that no such oil/resin glazes exist. Now as you point out, it may well be that they have not figured out how to detect their presence as you have alluded to.
In looking at Van Eyck paintings and using my own experience with materials as my point of reference, I would say it would be easier to duplicate the effects seen in these paintings with oil/resin glazes.

Alot of what I have felt about Van Eyck's works by intuition and experience with materials do not seem to be reflected by scientific research.

Much to think about concerning your post, thank you.

I welcome your presence too, Saturn, since it only took a dozen posts from an anonymous person with no citations for Kenneth to roll over enough to concede this possibility, whereas the direct authority of the National Gallery of Art couldn't bring him to this level of recognition previously.

Back then, there certainly wasn't much to think about, that's for sure....I should come back re-registered as Iapetus, or another one of Saturn's moons, for extra elan, since what you say seems to have some authority around here...(and by the way, where are you getting this information?)...and thanks for all the needless aggravation to those with a keyboard in one hand and the Rembrandt the Painter at Work in the other.

[Robert Garrett]

finely ground pigment in water, painted on and then covered by animal glue. I find this to be interesting as well. Since I first read about Kenneths discussion of Rubens and the possibility of his use of distemper in his under-paintings.

Though this is not so different than a watercolor underpainting coated with a hide glue.

Am I correct in this assesment?

RG

[Saturn]

I thank Mr. Freed for commenting most of my posts and turning my atention( in many of them ) to directions that I am sure will improve my knowledge of the topics in question. His understanding and passion concerning the techniques and materials of the great masters is inspirational and I am sure that every reader in this forum will benefit from this fact and from his qualified help.
I wish and hope that in future I and Mr.Freed will continue these constructive discussions in the same positive and perspective way.

quote:
Originally posted by Orp
`(and by the way, where are you getting this information?)`

From nowhere, Orp. I do not need to hold a book in hand in order to discuse these subjects.In fact reading a book is never enough to give a qualified oppinion on any matter.

quote:
Originally posted by Orp

`I should come back re-registered as Iapetus, or another one of Saturn's moons, for extra elan, since what you say seems to have some authority around here..`

I believe that authority does not come from magic spell of names of planets , moons , or from their alchemical meanings in medieval times.

[ 17. January 2010, 11:51: Message edited by: Saturn ]