{{Short description|Form of decorative paint}} [[File:Dieric Bouts - The Entombment - Artron.jpg|thumb|right|[[Dirk Bouts]]' ''[[The Entombment (Bouts)|Entombment]]'', distemper on linen, 1450s]] [[File:The Auxiliary Territorial Service in Britain during the Second World War TR2605.jpg|thumb|Distemper being used to paint a room, 1939-1945]] '''Distemper''' is a decorative [[paint]] and a historical medium for painting pictures, and contrasted with [[tempera]]. The [[binder (paint)|binder]] may be [[glue]]s of vegetable or animal origin (excluding egg). Soft distemper is not abrasion resistant and may include binders such as chalk, ground pigments, and animal glue. Hard distemper is stronger and wear-resistant and can include [[casein]] or [[linseed oil]] as binders.<ref>''Distemper.'' In: {{cite book |date=2015 |editor1-last= Weyer |editor1-first=Angela |editor2-last=Roig Picazo |editor2-first=Pilar |editor3-last=Pop |editor3-first=Daniel |editor4-last=Cassar |editor4-first=JoAnn |editor5-last=Özköse |editor5-first= Aysun |editor6-last=Vallet |editor6-first=Jean-Marc |editor7-last=Srša |editor7-first= Ivan |title=EwaGlos. European Illustrated Glossary Of Conservation Terms For Wall Paintings And Architectural Surfaces. English Definitions with translations into Bulgarian, Croatian, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Romanian, Spanish and Turkish. |url= http://elearn.hawk-hhg.de/projekte/ewaglos/pages/download.php |location=Petersberg |publisher=Michael Imhof |page=104 |doi=10.5165/hawk-hhg/233 |last1= Weyer |first1= Angela |last2= Roig Picazo |first2= Pilar |last3= Pop |first3= Daniel |last4= Cassar |first4= JoAnn |last5= Özköse |first5= Aysun |last6= Jean-Marc |first6= Vallet |last7= Srša |first7= Ivan (Ed.) }}</ref>
==Soft distemper== [[File:Shakyamuni-Thangka.jpg|thumb|19th-century Mongolian [[thanka]] in distemper]]
Distemper is an early form of [[whitewash]], also used as a medium for artistic [[painting]], usually made from powdered [[calcium carbonate|chalk]] or [[calcium hydroxide|lime]] and [[sizing|size]] (a gelatinous substance). Alternatives to chalk include the toxic substance [[lead carbonate|white lead]].
Distempered surfaces can be easily marked and discoloured, and cannot be washed down, so distemper is best suited to temporary and interior decoration. The technique of painting on distempered surfaces blends watercolours with whiting and glue. "The colours are mixed with whitening, or finely-ground chalk, and tempered with size. The whitening makes them opaque and gives them 'body,' but is also the cause of their drying light ... a source of considerable embarrassment to the inexperienced eye is that the colours when wet present such a different appearance from what they do when dry."<ref>Vasari, Giorgio. ''Vasari on Technique.'' G. Baldwin Brown, ed., translated by Louisa S. Maclehose; London, J. M. Dent & Co., 1907; p. 242 n. 4.</ref>
Many Medieval and Renaissance painters used distemper painting rather than oil paint for some of their works.<ref>Merrifield, Mary P. ''The Art of Fresco Painting in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.'' 1846; reprinted Mineola, NY, Courier Dover, 2003.</ref> The earliest paintings on [[canvas]] were mostly in distemper, which was (and is) also widely used in Asia, especially in [[Tibet]]an [[thanka]]s. Distemper paintings suffer more than oil paintings as they age, and relatively few have survived. It was the most common medium for painting banners and decorations for temporary celebrations, both of which attracted artists of the highest quality, especially when they were official court artists. In distemper painting, "the carbonate of lime, or whitening employed as a basis, is less active than the pure lime of [[fresco]] ... to give adhesion to the tints and colours in distemper painting, and to make them keep their place, they are variously mixed with the size of glue (prepared commonly by dissolving about {{convert|4|oz|spell=in|disp=sqbr}} of glue in {{one2a|{{convert|1|impgal|l usgal|spell=in|disp=sqbr}}}} of water). Too much of the glue disposes the painting to crack and peel from the ground; while, with too little, it is friable and deficient in strength."<ref>Field, George. ''Chromatography, or A treatise on Colours and Pigments, and of Their Powers in Painting.'' London, Tilt and Bogue, 1841; pp. 337–8.</ref>
The [[National Gallery]], London, distinguishes between the techniques of [[glue]], glue [[Sizing|size]], or glue-[[tempera]], which is how they describe their three [[Andrea Mantegna]]s in the medium, and distemper, which is how they describe their [[Dirk Bouts]] and two [[Édouard Vuillard]]s (see below). Other sources would describe the Mantegnas as also being in distemper.
In modern practice, distemper painting is often employed for scenery painting in theatrical productions and other short-term applications, where it may be preferred to oil paint for reasons of economy. Contemporary artist [[John Connell (artist)|John Connell]] was known for using distemper in paintings sometimes as large as ten feet.<ref>ARTlines, April 1983</ref>
In architecture, distemper paints usually consist of a glue binder with calcium carbonate as the base pigment.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mary |first=Culver |date=2001 |title=Performance Evaluation of Traditional and Modified Distemper Paints |url=https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1463&context=hp_theses}}</ref>
==Military use== [[File:MiG-3 aircraft in winter distemper camouflage, World War II.jpg|thumb|alt=MiG-3 aircraft in winter distemper camouflage, World War II|The distemper winter camouflage paint on this Soviet MiG-3 fighter aeroplane shows severe erosion due to weathering.]]
Distemper was used extensively by German and Soviet forces for [[snow camouflage#Second World War|winter camouflage]] during [[World War II]]. Because ordinary camouflage patterns were ineffective in the heavy snow conditions on the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]], aircraft, tanks, and other military vehicles were hastily brush-painted with plain white distemper during the winter of 1941–1942. Because distemper is water-soluble, photographs showing winter camouflage often show it badly eroded.
During the [[invasion of Normandy]] on June 6, 1944, all Allied aircraft participating in the invasion were marked on the wings and fuselage with "[[invasion stripes]]" painted with distemper so that naval or ground-based gunners would not misidentify them as German and fire on them, as had happened during the [[Allied invasion of Sicily|invasion of Sicily]] in 1943.
==Examples of paintings in distemper== * [[Fayum mummy portraits]], from Late Antique Egypt (some in [[encaustic painting|encaustic]]) * [[Dirk Bouts]] ''[[The Entombment (Bouts)|Entombment]]'', 1450s. [[National Gallery]], London * Many paintings by [[Andrea Mantegna|Mantegna]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kimbellart.org/database/conservation.cfm?acquisition_id%3DAP+1987.04 |title=Conservation Information |publisher=Kimbell Art Museum |access-date=2007-03-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061001113913/http://www.kimbellart.org/database/conservation.cfm?acquisition_id=AP%201987.04 |archive-date=2006-10-01 |quote=Mantegna often used distemper, a glue-tempera medium, for small devotional pictures such as the Kimbell's painting.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/andrea-mantegna-the-introduction-of-the-cult-of-cybele-at-rome |title=Andrea Mantegna {{!}} The Introduction of the Cult of Cybele at Rome |publisher=National Gallery, London }}</ref> * The [[Raphael Cartoons]], London * [[Scottish Renaissance painted ceilings]] * [[Édouard Vuillard]] ''Lunch at Vasouy'', 1901, [[Tate Modern]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/edouard-vuillard-la-terrasse-at-vasouy-the-garden |title=Edouard Vuillard {{!}} La Terrasse at Vasouy, The Garden |publisher=National Gallery, London}}</ref> * [[Mark Tobey]]'s ''White Journey'', modern * [[The Grand Teddy tea-rooms paintings|''Le Grand Teddy'']] by Édouard Vuillard
==References== <references/>
==External links== {{Commons category}} * [http://www.diy-extra.co.uk/distemper.html Removing Distemper.] * [http://patrickbaty.co.uk/?p=7198 Soft Distemper] * [http://patrickbaty.co.uk/?p=131 The Problem with Distemper]
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[[Category:Painting techniques]] [[Category:Paints]]
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