Renaissance Painting Mediums: Fresco, Tempera, and Oil

Flashcards covering key concepts about fresco, tempera, and oil painting mediums, their techniques, terminology, and stylistic implications from the lecture notes.

What are the three painting mediums most popular in the Renaissance discussed in the notes?

Fresco, tempera, and oil.

How does the medium affect a painting's style?

The material dictates what the work can do and how it looks; medium affects style.

What is Buon Fresco?

Painting in wet plaster; plaster sets in 6-8 hours; pigment binds while the plaster is wet; used for large-scale wall surfaces.

Why are fresco paintings often executed on a large scale?

Fresco is designed for large wall surfaces and must be legible from a distance.

What is a giornata in fresco painting?

A day's work; the patch of plaster painted in a single day; final fresco is a patchwork of giornate.

What is sinopia and what is its role in fresco?

An ink wash drawing on rough plaster representing the initial design; served as a guide and the final fresco may differ from it.

What was the purpose of the scaffolding in Michelangelo's Sistine Ceiling project?

To reach high areas; a scaffold could slide along the length, allowing frescoing without dismantling and re-erecting.

Why does fresco tend to lack fine, fussy detail?

Because it is painted on wet plaster with limited time per giornata, forcing quick execution and large-scale focus.

What is tempera, and what binder does it use?

A painting medium that uses egg yolk as the binder for pigment on panel paintings.

What steps are involved in preparing tempera panel paintings?

Prepare a wooden panel with many coats of gesso, make an underdrawing, then apply gilding (bole for gold adherence) and gold leaf; pigments mixed with egg yolk and vinegar.

What is bole in gilding?

A tacky clay laid down to provide a surface for gold to adhere to.

How is gold leaf prepared and applied in tempera works?

Gold wafers are overlapped, beaten to thinness by gold beaters, then burnished and tooled with punches to catch light.

What are the characteristic effects of tempera on form and edges?

Dried quickly, cannot be applied in large brushstrokes, and emphasizes edges with thin linear brushwork; forms often outlined.

Which Botticelli painting is cited as an example of tempera, and what is its look?

Birth of Venus; forms appear as flat shapes described by lines, like cut-out shapes.

What are the main properties and benefits of oil as a painting medium?

Oil uses linseed or walnut oil as binder; slow drying; allows richer color, deeper shadows, softer rendering, and fine detail through layering.

What is an example of an oil painting mentioned in the notes?

Andrea del Sarto, Madonna of the Harpies, 1515.