Pietro Annigoni: Oil Tempera

"Mrs. Woolfson" by Pietro Annigoni

"I confess that I was myself more concerned with my work than with the fate of Italy at that time. For the first time I had a group of paintings and drawings on show in my native city, Milan, which was gratifying. But at the same time I was becoming increasingly dissatisfied with oil painting. The freer, 'impressionistic' brushwork that I employed failed to reproduce in the paintings the qualities I had in mind when I was making the preliminary drawings. For a while I gave up painting and devoted myself to etching Ia collection of 113 of my prints was published that year) and to a new study of the Renaissance masters, through which I hoped vaguely to discover some sort of secret by which they succeeded in carrying over, into their paintings, the power and vitality that informed their drawings.

Unwilling to accept that the secret lay entirely in their genius, I worked myself into a thoroughly depressed state. Then, as has so often happened to me during difficult periods of my life, a new friend came to my aid. His name was Lokoff. He was a Russian painter who for many years had been studying the technical methods of the Old Masters, the chemistry of their colours, and the nature of the mediums they used, and he was convinced he had discovered a secret medium used extensively by painters of the High Renaissance, especially the Venetians. This secret he imparted to me and I have made use of it ever since and given it to anyone else who wanted it. 

Briefly the medium is best described as oil tempera. It comprises various proportions of egg yolk, white of egg, standoil, and mastic varnish. In addition, a vinegary white wine is used for the mixing of the powdered paint. The discovery of this medium, which I learned to modify subtly for use with different colours and to produce different effects, sent me back to painting with new enthusiasm and excitement."

Formula for Oil-Tempera Medium

Egg (in the proportion of one whole egg to two yolks) 4 parts 

Mastic varnish - 1 part

Standoil - 1 part

Mix with an electric or hand egg-whisk. Store in refrigerator until required. I have learned to vary or modify this formula slightly for use with certain colours. I mix all my own colours from the basic ingredients, using a solution of white wine together with a little water.

To be continued

(Excerpted from "Pietro Annigoni: An Artist's Life" by Pietro Annigoni, 1977.)