Also 9 tempra. [It. tempera, in phr. pingere a tempera to paint in distemper.] The method of painting in distemper: see DISTEMPER sb.2 1.
1798. Mariana Starke, Lett. Italy, 1792–8 (1800), I. x. 224. The Palazzo Tonini contains two picture in tempera from Tasso’s Gerusalemmo, begun by Melani, and finished by Tammasi, his Scholar.
1832. Gell, Pompeiana, I. viii. 148. A beautiful Venus painted in tempra.
1888. Encycl. Brit., XXIII. 157/2. Tempera is called in Italy ‘fresco a secco’ as distinguished from ‘fresco buono,’ or true fresco, painted on freshly laid patches of stucco.
a. 1890. W. B. Scott, Autobiogr. Notes, I. 168. The best preserved early pictures there [Italy] are tempera, not fresco.
b. Comb., as tempera-painting, -picture.
1862. Thornbury, Turner, I. 142. Passages of transparent colour, either upon white grounds, or introduced to enrich tempera pictures.
1842. Eugenio Latilla (title), A Treatise on Fresco, Encaustic, and Tempera Painting.
1898. Hueffer, in Contemp. Rev., Aug., 185. In the same year, he again attempted tempera-painting.
