---
title: "Tempera — AP Art History Definition & Exam Guide"
description: "Tempera is pigment bound with egg yolk, the go-to panel painting medium before oil. Know how it shaped works like Lippi's Madonna and Child for Unit 3."
canonical: "https://fiveable.me/ap-art-history/key-terms/tempera"
type: "key-term"
subject: "AP Art History"
unit: "Unit 3"
---

# Tempera — AP Art History Definition & Exam Guide

## Definition

Tempera is a painting medium made by mixing pigment with a fast-drying binder, usually egg yolk, that dominated European panel painting before oil paint. On the AP Art History exam it appears in Unit 3 works like Fra Filippo Lippi's Madonna and Child with Two Angels.

## What It Is

Tempera is paint made by combining ground pigment with a binder, most often egg yolk, then applying it in thin layers to a prepared wooden panel (usually coated in white gesso). Because egg tempera dries almost instantly, artists couldn't blend wet colors on the surface. Instead they built up form with tiny, careful brushstrokes and cross-hatching. The result is the crisp lines, smooth matte surfaces, and jewel-bright (but limited) color you see in medieval and early Renaissance [panel painting](/ap-art-history/key-terms/panel-painting "fv-autolink").

In [AP Art History](/ap-art-history "fv-autolink") terms, tempera is the workhorse medium of [Unit 3](/ap-art-history/unit-3 "fv-autolink") before oil paint takes over. It's how artists like Fra Filippo Lippi painted devotional panels such as *Madonna and Child with Two Angels*. The medium's limits matter as much as its strengths. Tempera's fast drying and thin layering made deep shadow, soft blending, and glowing translucent color hard to achieve, which is exactly why the shift to oil paint in 15th-century Flanders counts as a major development in naturalism.

## Why It Matters

Tempera lives in [Topic 3.3](/ap-art-history/unit-3/materials-techniques-early-european-colonial-american-art/study-guide/wzSluCJsZvsi5dG3NmEl "fv-autolink") (Materials, Processes, and Techniques in Early European and Colonial American Art) within Unit 3: Early Europe and Colonial Americas, 200-1750 CE. It directly supports learning objective 3.3.A, explaining how materials, processes, and techniques affect art and art making. The essential knowledge behind it (MPT-1.A.10) is all about how developments in color, figuration, and [perspective](/ap-art-history/key-terms/perspective "fv-autolink") enhanced the illusion of naturalism. Tempera is your 'before' picture in that story. When you can explain what tempera could and couldn't do, you can explain why oil paint transformed European art, and that comparison is one of the most reliable materials-and-techniques arguments on the exam.

## Connections

### Oil Painting in 15th-Century Flanders (Unit 3)

Oil paint dries slowly, so artists could blend colors, layer translucent glazes, and create deep shadows and glowing light. Tempera couldn't do any of that. The tempera-to-oil shift is the classic '[medium](/ap-art-history/key-terms/medium "fv-autolink") changes the art' argument for Unit 3, and it explains the leap in naturalism the CED keeps pointing to.

### [Encaustic (Unit 3)](/ap-art-history/key-terms/encaustic)

[Encaustic](/ap-art-history/key-terms/encaustic "fv-autolink") uses hot wax as the binder instead of egg. Early Byzantine icons like the Virgin (Theotokos) and Child between Saints Theodore and George were painted in encaustic, so think of encaustic and tempera as sibling panel-painting media. Same idea (pigment plus binder), different binder, different look.

### Byzantine Icons (Unit 3)

After encaustic faded out, tempera and [gold leaf](/ap-art-history/key-terms/gold-leaf "fv-autolink") became the standard combo for Byzantine and medieval devotional panels. Tempera's flat, luminous color suited images meant for worship rather than realism, which is why those icons feel otherworldly instead of lifelike.

### [Atmospheric Perspective (Unit 3)](/ap-art-history/key-terms/atmospheric-perspective)

Atmospheric perspective needs subtle, hazy gradations of color to make distant things fade. That effect is much easier in oil than in tempera, where colors stay crisp and separate. Connecting medium to perspective technique is exactly the kind of MPT-1.A.10 reasoning the exam rewards.

## On the AP Exam

Tempera shows up in multiple-choice questions that ask you to identify a medium or explain how it shaped a work's appearance. A common stem contrasts tempera with the oil techniques developed in 15th-century Flanders and asks what oil made possible that tempera didn't (blending, glazing, wider color range). Practice questions also pair it with fresco (pigment on wet plaster) and encaustic (pigment in wax), so know all three binders cold. For free-response questions, tempera is most useful as evidence in materials-and-techniques arguments. The 2017 LEQ on the Virgin (Theotokos) icon asked you to compare devotional objects, and being able to identify a work's medium accurately (tempera vs. encaustic vs. oil) is part of the 'completely identify' requirement that earns identification points on every Art History essay.

## tempera vs Oil paint

Both are pigment plus binder applied to panels (and later canvas), but the binder changes everything. Tempera's egg binder dries in seconds, forcing thin layers and tiny strokes, and produces crisp, matte, bright-but-limited color. Oil dries slowly, letting artists blend on the surface, build translucent glazes, and achieve deep shadows and realistic skin and fabric. If an exam question shows a panel with sharp outlines and flat luminous color, think tempera. If it shows soft blended shadows and glowing depth, think oil.

## Key Takeaways

- Tempera is pigment mixed with a fast-drying binder, usually egg yolk, applied in thin layers to a gesso-prepared wood panel.
- Because tempera dries almost instantly, artists built form with small precise strokes instead of blending, giving works crisp lines and a matte finish.
- Tempera was the dominant European panel painting medium through the medieval period and early Renaissance, seen in Fra Filippo Lippi's Madonna and Child with Two Angels.
- The development of oil painting in 15th-century Flanders surpassed tempera by allowing blending, glazing, and a wider color range, advancing the illusion of naturalism (MPT-1.A.10).
- Don't confuse the binders: tempera uses egg, encaustic uses hot wax, and fresco uses no binder at all because pigment is applied directly to wet plaster.
- On FRQs, correctly naming tempera as a work's medium helps you earn the 'completely identify' points, and contrasting it with oil builds a strong materials-and-techniques argument.

## FAQs

### What is tempera in AP Art History?

Tempera is a painting medium made of pigment mixed with a binder, typically egg yolk, applied in thin layers to a gesso-coated wood panel. It was the standard medium for European panel painting before oil paint, covered in Topic 3.3 of Unit 3 (200-1750 CE).

### Is tempera the same as fresco?

No. Tempera is egg-bound pigment painted onto a dry, prepared panel, while fresco is pigment applied directly to wet plaster on a wall, where the plaster itself locks in the color. Exam questions often test exactly this distinction.

### What's the difference between tempera and encaustic?

The binder. Tempera uses egg yolk; encaustic uses heated wax. Early Byzantine icons like the Virgin (Theotokos) and Child were encaustic, while later medieval and early Renaissance panels like Lippi's Madonna and Child with Two Angels are tempera.

### Why did artists stop using tempera?

They didn't stop entirely, but oil paint developed in 15th-century Flanders offered slow drying time, blendable colors, translucent glazes, and a wider color range, all of which made naturalistic effects far easier. Oil gradually replaced tempera as the dominant medium during the Renaissance.

### Did tempera limit what medieval artists could paint?

In some ways, yes. Its fast drying prevented soft blending and deep, gradual shadows, which pushed artists toward crisp outlines, flat luminous color, and linear precision. That look suited devotional images, but it's also why the shift to oil counts as a leap toward naturalism on the AP exam.

## Related Study Guides

- [3.3 Materials, Processes, and Techniques in Early European and Colonial American Art](/ap-art-history/unit-3/materials-techniques-early-european-colonial-american-art/study-guide/wzSluCJsZvsi5dG3NmEl)

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