Tempera (tempera)

Tempera is a painting technique that uses natural pigments mixed with egg yolk and water.
This technique was the predecessor of oil painting, and is still traditionally used in iconography.
On one of the walls in the Hospital of Saint-Thomas in Canterbury this tempera wall painting of Christ en gloire can be found.
For a layman there is hardly any difference between a tempera painting and a fresque (fresco), like the frescos in Berzé-la-Ville.
The picture shows, just outside the mandorle (mandorla) two parts of the tétramorphe (tetramorph).
See also détrempe (synonym).

Hospital of Saint-Thomas - Canterbury