Four Paintings

Just before painting, small quantities of pigments would be combined with the paint medium, which in the case of 14th century Italian panel paintings would be tempera made from egg yolks. Cennini advised that equal amounts of egg tempera and pigment should be mixed together to achieve not only the required finish of the paint, but also one which would be relatively long-lasting. He also recommended using the yolk of a town hen's egg when painting young people with cool flesh colour, since they produced whiter yolks than country hens.

Since egg tempera dries out quickly and is extremely viscous, it meant that paint could not be applied thickly, lest it cracked and flaked off in the drying process, nor could it be blended. Using small brushes of minever hair, the artist would build up layers of small fine strokes.

The conventional order of painting was to start with the landscape elements, followed by the drapery, and finally the heads. Faces were the most complex elements to paint, with progressively lighter colours from the terra verde underpainting being precisely applied, so as to create the facial features.