Mark Thompson has been creating egg tempera paintings for more than 30 years. The egg tempera medium he creates using fresh egg yolk yields brilliant, opaque color and absolute realism. Egg tempera painting is usually associated with medieval and early Renaissance painters such as Botticelli, Verrocchio and Fra Angelico. The medium as used by these old masters was a painstaking one. So when oil painting was developed, most artists changed to the new medium. Because the switch was so complete, egg tempera became a lost art until 1844 when an Englishwoman translated a book written in the late 15th century by Cennino Cennini.
Although egg tempera remains technically demanding, modern methods and materials have simplified the methods of the old masters. In order to make paint, three basic ingredients are needed: pigment, adhesive or binder and a solvent or thinner. Egg tempera paint is made up of dry pigment, egg yolk for the binder and water for thinner.
