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| Barna da Siena Mystic Marriage of St Catherine ca. 1340 tempera on panel Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |
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| Barnaba da Modena Virgin and Child ca. 1360-70 tempera on panel Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |
"Through the fourteenth century, the primary support for portable paintings – from monumental church altarpieces to diminutive works used in private devotion – was the wooden panel. Masters were assisted by pupils and workshop members in their lengthy and complex preparation. Modern technical analysis and x-radiography have deepened our understanding of this process, allowing for a close examination of the materials and techniques used by the artist. The basis of our knowledge, however, is a 600-year-old source: a treatise on the art of painting called Il Libro dell'arte, composed about 1390 by the Italian painter Cennino Cennini (ca. 1370-ca. 1440)."
"A seasoned plank – one that had been allowed to dry out for some time – was first layered with several coats of size, a glue made from animal skins. In Italy, the planks used for panel paintings were often made of native poplar, a widely available wood that was, however, soft and vulnerable to warping. A piece of linen soaked in size was often laid over the front of the panel to conceal any surface flaws. Over this, coats of gesso were applied. Gesso, a mixture of powdered calcium sulfate (commonly called gypsum) and animal glue, provided the ground for preliminary drawings."
"When the underdrawing was complete, the panel was ready for gilding. Areas to be gilded were prepared with a layer of bole, a reddish clay that provided an adhesive surface for fragile gold leaf. The gold leaf was made by pounding a small amount of gold into thin sheets, which were then applied to the panel using a tool called a gilder's tip. The gilded surface was rubbed with a hard-tipped instrument to smooth and polish the gold leaf, a process known as burnishing. Additional decoration could be incised or stamped into the surface using metal rods, called punches, with patterns cut into one end. The tip of the punch, placed against the panel and struck from the other end with a mallet, pressed the design into the wood. Punching was often used to achieve intricately detailed haloes surrounding the heads of holy figures. Finally, the panel could be painted, [most commonly with] tempera paints, made by mixing ground pigments with egg yolk. This medium produced a brilliant, pure hue."
– excerpted from an essay by Jennifer Meagher in the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
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| Pellegrino di Giovanni Archangel Michael ca. 1428-37 tempera on panel Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |
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| Fra Carnevale Presentation of the Virgin ca. 1467 tempera and oil on panel Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |
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| Master of the Holy Kinship St Peter and St Andrew ca. 1475-1500 oil on panel Philadelphia Museum of Art |
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| Master of the Holy Kinship Apostles Matthais and Matthew ca. 1475-1500 oil on panel Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |
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| Hans Memling Christ Blessing 1481 oil on panel Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |
"The beginnings of oil painting are recorded as early as the twelfth century in Northern Europe. But it was the virtuoso handling of the medium on panel by early Netherlandish painters . . . in the fifteenth century that represented a turning point in its eventual adoption as the major painting medium in Europe in the sixteenth century. . . . Oil painting is highly flexible in that it admits application both in thick impasto and fine detail: countless types of descriptive brushstroke are possible in oil. Since it is slow drying, it can be carefully blended to make soft, seamless shadows essential for the suggestion of three-dimensional forms, as well as worked while still wet. All these properties make it especially suitable to communicate the reflective properties of different surfaces, from polished marble to dazzling jewels, from soft velvet to luminous highlights on hard metal plate. . . . In stark contrast, the medium of egg tempera, tradition in Southern European panel painting, results in a more schematic rendition of light, shade, and color. Egg dries quickly to a relatively light tone, is suitable for bright colors, and must be applied thinly in short, hatched strokes. . . . Artist in Southern Europe learned Netherlandish handling of oil through a combination of travel, imported paintings, and information gleaned from those who had contacts with the Netherlands."
– excerpted from an essay by Susan Jones in the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
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| workshop of Domenico Ghirlandaio Virgin and Child ca. 1485-95 tempera on panel Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |
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| Jacopo da Valenza St Jerome in the Wilderness ca. 1485-1500 oil on panel Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |
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| Anonymous German painter St George, St Michael, St John the Baptist ca. 1500-1525 oil on panel Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |
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| Master of Hoogstraeten Virgin and Child with St Catherine of Alexandria, another Female Saint and Angel ca. 1500-1520 oil on panel Philadelphia Museum of Art |
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| Andrea del Sarto Virgin and Child ca. 1509-1510 oil on panel Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |
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| Lucas Cranach the Elder Lamentation, with Two Thieves Crucified 1515 oil on panel Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |
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| Bernardino Luini Salome with the Head of St John the Baptist ca. 1515-25 oil on panel Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |