Painting in Tempera, c. 1900. Edited by Karoline Beltinger and Jilleen Nadolny. London, Archetype, 2016. Part Two

CLICK HERE FOR ITALIAN VERSION

Painting in Tempera, c. 1900
Edited by Karoline Beltinger and Jilleen Nadolny

London, Archetype Publications, 2016

Review by Giovanni Mazzaferro
Part Two

Fig. 7) Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1893, oil, tempera and pastel on cardboard, Oslo National Gallery
Source: http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/munch/ via Wikimedia Commons

Go back to Part One

Paola Travaglio, 

Evidence for wax tempera binding media in Italian technical literature of the first half of the 20th century 

"The Italian debate on encaustic art and the use of wax in painting, which began in the mid-18th century, continued over almost two centuries. In the 1800s, it took on a more 'scientific' character and also became part of the discussions concerning the field of conservation, reaching its final stage in the technical literature of the first half of the 20th century. However, if the first experiments were aimed at a philological investigation of ancient encaustic painting, based on the reading of the literary sources, between the 19th and 20th century descriptions of the use of various materials and procedures prevailed. The main objective seemed to have been to emulate the visual effects achieved by Roman paintings in order to lend artworks a particular 'antique aura' [...]. From the debate on encaustic painting arose a parallel discussion of binding media mixtures that contained wax that were actually true tempera paints - paints in which only a small amount of wax (or wax soaps) were introduced into tempera formulations. With the exception of De Pidoll temperas, we do not have evidence of the industrial production of such hybrid tempera formulations. The research, both from the documentary and analytical point of view, raises many questions which remain unresolved. Nevertheless, such 'wax tempera' were undoubtedly used in a period in which, in contemporary descriptions, 'the crowd of artists uses formulas and recipes of every age and every school, speaks all languages, both living and dead' (Moreau-Vauthier 1912 / 1913 edition, p. 76)" (pp. 80-81).

Fig. 8) Egon Schiele, The round table, 1918, oil and tempera on canvas, Vienna, Leopold Museum
Source: artdaily.com via Wikimedia Commons

Karoline Beltinger,

The Pereira Tempera System 

There is no doubt that, among all operators producing tempera, the Austrian Baron Alfons Ludwig von Pereira-Arnstein was the one who gained the greatest popularity and, at the same time, one of the most controversial. Pereira was a diplomat, who by virtue of his profession lived for a long period in Rome, then in Stuttgart (home of the Grand Duchy of Wuttenberg) and then back in Vienna. His real passion, however, was that of the reconstruction of the techniques of painting in tempera, which resulted in the industrial production of a series of tools for artists, which took the name of 'Pereira System'. It encompassed all aspects, from the priming of the canvas until the application of protective coatings.

Actually, Pereira became famous because of a smart and flawless campaign of promotion (and self-promotion) for his products. First of all, the baron presented himself as a figure detached from the large manufacturing companies producing industrial colours (although he, in fact, made his fortune from this type of production). Pereira declared that he was taking the “side of the artists" against any attempt by manufacturers to adulterate pigments (a widespread legend, on which rumours circulated in art circles).

The production of the Pereira products can be ideally divided into two periods: first from 1891 to 1897, and later from 1897 onwards. In a first phase, the baron offers temperas that are not emulsions: Pereira is absolutely opposed to the use of oil and believes that the same invention of oil colours by the Van Eyck brothers is nothing but the final superposition of a layer of oil enamel on paintings which are processed in tempera. In some way, this explains why the Pereira system, in substance, results from the sequence of two well-separated phases: first the real painting, with pigments sold in separate tubes and unanimously considered to be of excellent quality, and second a series of liquid vehicles that are mixed with the pigments according to a procedure, which is not easy to perform.

Shortly before the commercialization of his products, Pereira begins to approach some of the most prominent artists in the European landscape, in particular in Paris and Munich. He asks everyone to try his tempera, explaining in what way to do it; he collects templates of art works to show and exhibit, and gathers and publishes positive opinions of the most enthusiastic painters, while quashing systematically the negative ones. In June 1891, he introduces his system in a special session of the Society of Artists of France in Paris. Then he brings all works performed in Paris by the French artists and exhibits them in Stuttgart. The following year, making use of his diplomatic skills, he holds another meeting in Paris, broadening it to the association of the artists of Fine Arts in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The Pereira system, in short, deflagrates like a bomb in the European art world. The Table 4) of the essay lists all artists who turn out to use the colours of the Austrian Baron; it cites the enthusiastic reviews from many of them, as they are reported in the specialised press. There are hundreds names, and - as mentioned above – they belong to any relevant stylistic direction. In France, for example, one can remember Bouguereau, Pissarro and Puvis de Chavennes; among the Germans we have already referred to the cases of von Lenbach and von Stuck.

Pereira’s success is uncomfortable for many; not only for the most tenacious supporters of oil painting gathering around Keim in the German Society for the Promotion of Rational Painting Methods, but also for other entrepreneurs who produce industrial temperas. As I said, the Austrian Baron manages to push through the idea of being an 'outsider' vis-à-vis what we would call today the capitalist system, and to fight the same battle as the artists. The organization of the 1983 Munich conference, about which we have talked in Part One concerning Berger, must be read in this context: it is an organized answer (which, as mentioned, turns out to be a boomerang) on the part of the oil painting partisans to discredit the Pereira products.

Over the years, however, some flaws become evident: in particular, the complexity of the method and the risk that the tempera partially changes hue in the course of processing. The fact is that in 1897 Pereira introduces a new range of products, this time radically simplified, which no longer need to keep pigments and vehicles separate, but result in a single product. In fact, the old method is abandoned in favour of a new and simpler one; Pereira refrains from clarifying, however, that he is selling, this time, an emulsion including linseed oil. In essence, the Baron turns back on his heels, and albeit in a hidden way (a fact that his detractors do not fail to stigmatize) converts himself to the tempera as it has been previously defined, for example, by Berger.

Fig. 9) Paula Modersohn-Becker, Young girl with a black hat, about 1903, tempera on canvas, private collection
Source: https://www.lempertz.com/71+M548e379e085.html

Sandro Baroni, Simona Rainaldi e Maite Rossi, 

Tempera paints in Italy in the first half of the 20th century, with a special focus on ‘Tempera grassa’ di Maimeri 

The framework of the art production in tempera in Italy between the end of 1800 and the beginning of 1900 is extremely fragmented. Entrepreneurial structures that would give rise to an industrial production are missing. Nevertheless, the interest in tempera is very high, at least for two reasons: that technique, first of all, is considered part of the identity of Italian art; there is a tradition to be preserved and to be pursued, and this tradition is obviously tied to the great masterpieces of the past; on the other hand, starting around 1920 (i.e. after the end of the First World War and the rise of fascism) the so-called 'return to order', i.e. a return to the traditional techniques of medieval or fifteenth century workshops and to their processing, gains ground. Conceptually, it may seem a contradiction in terms. Yet, it is not. The fact that there are no industrial companies in Italy producing colours (neither oil nor tempera) simply implies that their tubes are imported from France, England and Germany (also in Italy there are supporters of the Pereira System). It should also be said that the main architect of the Italian 'return to order', from a technical point of view, is Giorgio de Chirico. The author of the Small Treaty on Painting Technique, which we have already reviewed on this blog, is a frequent visitor in his youth of the Munich circles between 1907 and 1909 (where he meets Berger).

The essay presents some figures of Italian painters-craftsmen, who bind the study of tempera with a personal production according to recipes which are most frequently kept as secret. It is the case for example of Cesare Laurenti (1852-1930), Mario de Maria (1852-1924), and Francesco Paolo Michetti (1851-1929). Do not forget, however, that Böcklin himself (who spends the last years of his life in Italy and who is a great supporter of tempera) commissions a Florentine pharmacy to produce materials in the late '90s, on the basis of information he provides in person. Nor can we ignore, later on, eccentric figures like the Spanish Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo, residing in Venice, whose tempera products encounter good success especially among restorers and artists of the Brera Academy.

The case of the painter Gianni Maimeri (1884-1951), while awaiting a more detailed examination, is the one that is undoubtedly most promising from a documentary point of view. Along with his brother Carlo (1886-1957), Gianni opens in 1923 a company specialized in the manufacture of paints. Without ever taking on a dimension comparable to similar foreign companies, the firm of the Maimeri brothers goes on for long time with its activities, with particular attention to the tempera. Gianni is also the author of an incomplete Trattato della pittura (Treatise on Painting - 1930), published only recently. He dedicates large space of it precisely to the tempera. In an appendix to the essay, the authors provide the notes written in a laboratory notebook between 1949 and 1951. They allow understanding the experimental activities of the artist's company, his research failures and the successes of new chemical formulas that enhance the performance of the Maimeri tempera colours. 

Fig. 10) Giorgio de Chirico, Still life with a knike, 1932, tempera and oil on canvas
Sources: Fondazione Giorgio e Isa de Chirico

Albrecht Pohlmann, 

Photografic layer and paint layer: approaches to tempera beyond tradition 

All approaches to tempera discussed so far are somehow related to the recovery of past techniques, regardless of whether the artists did use of them in order to exactly replicate the glorious productions of the old masters, or to develop new artistic fields. It should not be underestimated that technological developments lead to a fruitful interrelationship between the art techniques and photography, as discussed in this paper. Products in tempera begin to be sold in the market; on the one hand, they are inspired by processes used in modern photographic techniques, on the other they are marketed to colour photographs (which, at the time, are black and white). The author recalls the experiences of the Aquolin by Emil Jacobsen, of Otto Buss, and of the Bössenroth tempera paints.

Albrecht Pohlmann, Kathrin Kinseher, Wibke Neugebauer, Eva Reinkowski-Häfner e Simona Rinaldi, 

A tabulated listing of industrially produced tempera paints 

The census of tempera products used between the late nineteenth and early twentieth century especially across Italy and Germany (but also in other European countries) summarizes in a single table of thirty-six pages the wealth of documentary and laboratory research conducted by the volume editors. It collects hundreds of products (for which, sometimes, it is not even known the exact name with which they are placed on the market). For each of them, it is listed the inventor, the name of the company that produces them, their composition, the first circumstance in which they are mentioned, a bibliography, and the name of the artists who certainly make use of them. It is a valuable abridged informational tool.

Wibke Neugebauer, 

Layered and alla prima: some examples of tempera painting techniques, 1850-1914 

The essay by Wibke Neugebauer is dedicated to the realization of tempera painting technique and is the result of research funded by the Doerner Institute in Munich. It is no coincidence that it takes into account the works of artists acting in the Bavarian capital, artists (as we have already seen) with sometimes very different orientations. Munich is undoubtedly one of the centres where the use of tempera is most spread since the second half of the nineteenth century, thanks to the work of artists such as Arnold Böcklin. Böcklin is one of the art makers considered together with Franz von Stuck, Franz von Lenbach, Wassily Kandinsky, Julius Exter and Otto Modersohn.

In substance, it is evident that the paintings are either painted in layers or 'alla prima' (simplifying, it means ‘all at once’). In the painting in layers, the tempera was both used as a component of the first layer, on which it was then painted with oil, and as a tool for all layers. Obviously, the type of tempera used and the procedures followed required the artists to come to terms with various technical difficulties and to produce works whose visual impact was different. It seems to me very interesting, for example, the comparison between the first version of the Villa by the Sea by Arnold Böcklin (1864) and Franz von Stuck’s War (1894). Both consist in full of tempera layers, but with completely different purposes (and therefore with very different materials): in the first case the artist (especially interested in the visual effects of the Pompeian frescoes) seeks to reproduce on canvas the results of a fresco (see above Eva Reinkowski-Häfner, From wall to canvas ...); in the second case, von Stuck aims at creating a work that produces the effects of an oil on canvas. Similarly, it is symptomatic the different use that one can make of tempera even if it is simply used as a first layer of a painting then finished in oil. It is one of the most common solutions, historically based on the belief that it was precisely the technique of the old masters. Here the comparison is operated between the copy of Titian’s Concert performed by von Lenbach in 1865, whose intent is the exact replica of a masterpiece of the Italian Cinquecento, also from the point of view of the manufacturing process, and the second version of Böcklin Villa by the sea (1865), performed after the patron had rejected the first because it was deemed not to be enough close to nature. Here Böcklin combines areas worked in tempera (the sea, the sky) with others performed in oil (vegetation) just to achieve the effects required by the customer. Working in tempera 'alla prima' (albeit not particularly common) is taken into account in relation to works of Otto Modersohn and Wassily Kandinsky. 

Fig. 11) Arnold Böcklin, Villa by the Sea, 1864, oil and tempera on canvas, Munich, Schack Collection
Source: Wikimedia Commons

Fig. 12) Arnold Böcklin, Villa by the Sea II, 1865, oil and tempera on canvas, Munich, Schack Collection
Source: Wikimedia Commons

Patrick Dietemann, Wibke Neugebauer, Ursula Baumer, Irene Fiedler, Cedric Beil, Andrea Obermeier, Stephan Schäfer e Stefan Zumbühl, 

Analysis of complex tempera binding media combining chromatographic techniques, fluorescent staining for proteins and FTIR-FPA imaging 

Unfortunately, my knowledge is not good enough to allow me to address the reading of this and the subsequent essay (as I do not have a chemical training). In general, I can say that this essay considers laboratory analyses conducted precisely on the paintings mentioned in the previous contribution. It aims at comparing the written information dating from the period of execution of works with several (three in particular) analytical procedures. The result is that the three procedures have to be considered in the context of a single analysis protocol, since otherwise they would risk returning partial and inaccurate information.

Ester S.B. Ferreira, Karin Wyss, Violaine de Villemereuil, Karoline Beltinger, Federica Marone, Nadim C. Scherrer e Stefan Zumbühl, 

The role of reconstructions in the identification of a wax/resin/gum tempera binder developed by Hermann Urban in 1901 and used by Cuno Amiet in 1902  

The last essay is dedicated to the research carried out by the Swiss Institute for Art Research on the works of the Swiss artist Cuno Amiet (1868-1961). The attempt is to reproduce in the laboratory the techniques and materials used by the artist. Here too, it applies the caveat which I have mentioned in the previous case: unfortunately, my knowledge does not allow me to tackle the content of this writing with sufficient know-how to discuss it.