Sennelier Egg Tempera Sets

Highly pigmented, professional tempera

Capable of creating detailed and complex effects, the medium of egg tempera can be traced back as early as ancient Greece. During the early Italian Renaissance, egg tempera reached its’ zenith and was the predominant medium for religious icon panel paintings done between the 12th and 15th centuries. Even with the rise in popularity of oils beginning in the 15th century, Renaissance masters such as Michelangelo and Botticelli continued to prefer the deep luminosity of the medium. Even with the decline of the medium in favor of oils, artists like Marc Chagall (who exclusively used Sennelier) in the early 1900’s led to the medium’s revival, and it became more popular with the use by American painters such as Andrew Wyeth and Thomas Hart Benton.

In 1892, chemist and fine arts purveyor Gustave Sennelier created his own line of Sennelier Egg Tempera paints, after extensive research into classical, authentic Renaissance formulas. Egg Tempera is a semi-opaque, water-soluble and permanent painting medium used for fine art painting and restoration (and can even be used as an underpainting for oil paints). Unlike oils, egg tempera does not age or yellow, due to being egg emulsion-based instead of oil based. The egg emulsion recipe binder produces a satin-matte finish that is water resistant when dry and is thinned with water or egg tempera medium when painting.

Varnished egg tempera paintings are difficult to distinguish from oils due to their vibrancy and brilliance in how the pigment suspends in the emulsion. It is a popular medium with oil painters who seek a healthier alternative to the harsh and dangerous solvents involved with oil colors, as it requires nothing more than soap and water cleanup. Like their other paint lines, Sennelier Egg Tempera paints are professional quality pigments with the highest pigment loads possible.

Unlike oil paint, egg emulsion binder is stiffer and more brittle, so it does not lend well to impasto painting techniques. Traditionally, due to the brittle nature, egg tempera is best used on wood or canvas panels, or heavy primed paper that has been mounted on a hard surface. Note: Sennelier recommends artists give their finished egg tempera works a coating of charcoal or pastel fixative before applying a final oil paint picture varnish, to seal and protect the work.