La tempera all'uovo - Cennino Cennini sec. XIV - La tecnica

Medieval paintings from the 13th and 14th centuries show a significant continuity in the use of materials and techniques Wood support gesso and glue preparation tempera painting gilding Written at the end of the 1300s The Book of the Art by Cennino Cennini remains today the primary source for understanding e methods of procedure of 14th-century painters Cennino teaches the way of those who know the art The choice of wood how to glue the various boards how to treat and prepare them for painting With seven or eight layers of chalk and glue until they are reduced to the whiteness and smoothness of ivory The text places great importance on the preparatory drawing phase which is usually created separately and then transferred to the support According to one of the many traditional techniques The composition was outlined with willow charcoal shading folds and faces then the board was dusted And the refined drawing is passed over with clear water and a few drops of ink The figure is now enhanced with a subtle watercolor shading Once the design is completed on the prepared board with chalk and glue the outlines of the figures are incised with a sharp iron tool Separating thus the areas that must receive the gold from those to be painted with tempera At this point using a soft flat brush the mixed paste is spread evenly over the entire surface to be gilded Be careful to maintain an even thickness and try not to stop the brush And this until executing always according to Cennini's advice four subsequent layers using a mixture that becomes progressively denser Wipe the surface perfectly with a linen cloth then proceed with the application of gold After placing the leaf on the pillow it is cut with a special knife to bring it to the necessary size Dip the small area in beaten egg and water then take the leaf Using the electrostaticity of the same brush The gold leaf is now gently placed on it Repeat the operation until a certain area is covered perfectly adhere the gold Gently pressing with a cotton swab After the gilding is complete the surface is then polished or burnished eventually enriched with punch marks and further painting interventions On the gold surface on the halos and backgrounds Meanwhile decorative interventions are being carried out through engravings Or even using a series of punches capable of imprinting small decorative patterns on the surface that are repeated According to a predetermined plan The colors prepared in small containers from dark to light are always mixed with egg yolk They are formed by accretion and fusion At this point the table is colored preferably starting as Cennini suggests with the clothing of the figures and the architecture But anyway from the background elements It begins to take on a dark color regains the folds and as usual takes on a medium color and highlights the bumps The shadows of the folds Then take the light color and highlight the raised areas and the bumps of the light on the figure and for this reason it goes back to the beginning to the first folds of the figure with the dark color and so as you started it goes over and over again with these colors e one model and the other model The preparation of the flesh tones according to the rules of the Trecento Treaty requires a base of green color obtained with green earth and lead white so that it allows the underlying chiaroscuro design to show through Things you have and colored you must come to color the faces which is convenient for you start in this way Have a little green earth With a little white well-tempered and spread on the face twice Then comes a pinkish color applied to the cheeks and lips made from cinnabar and white lead Where in the wall make your cinnabar rosettes keep in mind that on the table it wants to be cinnabar And when you give the first roses don't make it pure vermillion make sure there's a bit of white Proceed now reinforcing the drawing with vermillion Start shading under the chin and more on the side where It should be darker on the face going back to the underlip of the mouth and on the edges of the mouth under the nose and from the side under the eyelashes strong towards the nose a little in the end of the eye towards the ears and so with feeling to search for All of the face and hands where it has to be incarnate Then take a brush dip it in varnish and carefully paint every contour nose eyes lips and ears of this greenish color The color of the flesh is achieved by starting the drawing with the hatching technique this time from light to dark Blending the shades that are already prepared but always allowing a little of the green underneath to show through There are three modes of incarnation each clearer than the other placing each incarnation in its respective space from the face not however approaching so closely to the shadows of the verdaccio that it covers her entirely but to give them with the darkest incarnatio Something that makes them sick and makes them ill as if it were smoke And yet the table requires to be more frequently camped on than on the wall but not so much that I don't want the green that is underneath The incarnations always slightly shine through When you have reduced your incarnations the face that is close to good will have a lighter incarnation and will be seeking for the bumps on the face gradually whitening in a delicate manner even to the point where it reaches with a white coating Touch it gently above the eyelid or on the tip from the nose Then he raised his eyes above a dark face with some hair as it is to the eye The nose is red Then remove a little dark sinopia with a black brush and outline the edges of the nose and eyes of lashes of hair of hands of feet and generally of everything as if on a wall you showed Always with the said tempera of rossume egg Small highlights or decorations on a field can be achieved by uniformly gilding the surface applying the color on it and proceeding But to search for gold under the background scratching slightly the surface according to the predetermined design The mordant is applied with a brush to the areas where gold should adhere On these the gold leaf is placed Lightly press the leaf after the adhesive has started to become sticky The gold leaf It is then easily removed by brushing the surface When gold leaf fragments are to be used for gilding small decorative elements they can be finely ground with a binder usually gum Arabica then applying the color with a brush This is called shell gilding so named after the container a shell precisely A tempo used to collect the mixture