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The use of egg yolks as binders for dyes is a pictorial technique known since ancient times. This method appears already in the frescoes of Nestor’s palace at Pylos, in the southwest of the Peloponnese, in Greece, dating from around 1200 BC, during the Mycenaean period. But it won’t be until much later, In the fifteenth century, when a change in photographic techniques took place in Europe. The great masters of painting, such as the Flemish Jan van Eyck, began to use oil as a binder. Hence the name oil painting.
Although the oil was not the only ingredient used as a binder. Studies have revealed some of the most important works of Renaissance artists such as Sandro Botticelli or Leonardo da Vinci Egg Tracking Guide Including. Thus, these artists created a new pictorial technique known as egg tempera, mixing oils and egg yolks. In fact, this technique has been known to experts for a long time, but this is not the reason for using this exotic ingredient.
Amazing ingredient
So, An international team of chemical engineers decided to try to find out What changes did the use of egg yolks bring about in oil paints? It was used by the great masters of painting of the sixteenth, seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. To do this they added egg yolks to different types of oils to see how they affected them. “There are very few written sources, and no scholarly work has ever been done to investigate the subject in this depth,” says Ophélie Ranquet, researcher at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Lead author of a study on this topic that have just been published in the journal Nature CommunicationsAnd
An international team of chemical engineers decided to find out about changes in the use of egg yolk in the paints produced.
The Madonna of the Carnation, painting by Leonardo da Vinci circa 1475. Old Picture Gallery in Munich.
Clove MaidenLeonardo da Vinci painted around 1475. Old Picture Gallery in Munich.
Thus, to conduct the experiment, The researchers created three types of panels. The first is made from a dye substance with linseed oil. The second used the same mixture with the addition of a few drops of egg yolk, and the third was made by mixing a dye with a dilute egg yolk solution, and after drying it was crushed and mixed with oil.
properties of the egg
The results reveal how the yolk can affect the hardness of the paint, depending on how it is added and the pigment used. “By changing the preparation technique, you can change the properties of the paint. Therefore, two coatings with the same composition can have different microstructures and this will result in different properties,” according to Ilaria Bonaduce, a researcher at the University of Pisa and the last author of the study.
The findings reveal how egg yolk can affect the hardness of paint, depending on how it is added and the pigment used.
Detail of Madonna with Carnations, painting by Leonardo da Vinci circa 1475. Old Picture Gallery in Munich.
Details from Clove MaidenLeonardo da Vinci painting circa 1475. Old Picture Gallery in Munich.
Researchers have also discovered that more solid oil paints can be made by adding a few drops of egg yolk, which allows the paint to be applied in thick layers that do not spread (known as impasto). In addition to the hardness of the lower layers of paint It prevents the paint surface from cracking [o] Wrinkle while dryingsaid Norbert Willenbacher of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, one of the authors of the study.
Detail of the Lamentation over the Dead Christ with the Saints, by Sandro Botticelli, one of the paintings that was used for the study. Painting collections in Bavarian State, Munich.
the details Lamentation over the dead Christ with the saints, by Sandro Botticelli, one of the paintings that was used for the study. Painting collections in Bavarian State, Munich.
The study also reveals this Humidity affected the properties of lead white paint to a lesser extent When it was prepared by drying the pigment with egg yolks before grinding it and adding oil. “[La yema] Protects paints from unwanted changes caused by absorbing moisture from the environment, because water is captured in the protein layer [que rodea los pigmentos]Willenbacher continues to explain.
and that is Yolk-based technology increases drying time, It is a property that researchers attribute to its antioxidant properties, which also helps protect paints from deterioration. In this way, the researchers believe, ancient artists knew that by using egg yolk they improved the quality of their paintings. “I’m sure they didn’t know the chemical and physical properties of this whole process, but they knew very well what they were doing,” Bonaduce concludes.
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