This page was created by Ryan Carter. The last update was by Jeffrey Forgeng.
The Adoration of the Kings: How was this made?
Ryan Carter, Class of 2025, College of the Holy Cross
Many different styles of painting emerged in Italy during the Renaissance, when Nelli was painting. However, the methods used to create panel paintings usually followed a similar series of steps. Painters would usually layer a ground made of gypsum and glue, an under-drawing, overlapping paint layers made from a mixture of pigments and binding materials such as animal glue, egg, or siccative oil, and a final varnish.
It was also typical of 15th century Italian panel paintings to use tempera paint, which was a mix of egg, pigment and a water-soluble binder. Many Italian panel paintings of this time also showed the presence of incamottatura, which relied on raw canvas to prepare, cover, and make uniform the wooden panel on which it was painted.
