Egg Tempera
Egg tempera is a traditional paint made by combining pigment with an egg-yolk binder and water. It dries quickly in thin layers and is normally used on a rigid, smooth, absorbent ground rather than a flexible painting support.
Painter
Robert Vickrey
Robert Vickrey was an American painter and illustrator known for detailed egg tempera paintings combining realistic observation with symbolic imagery, alongside acrylic, watercolor, and gouache work.
Robert Vickrey quick facts
Review key details about Robert Vickrey's life, career, illustration work, symbolic realism, and the egg-tempera, acrylic, watercolor, and gouache methods that shaped his paintings.
| Born | 1926 · New York City, New York, U.S. |
|---|---|
| Died | 2011 · Naples, Florida, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Movements | Magic Realism |
| Paint types | Egg tempera · Acrylic paint · Watercolor · Gouache |
| Painting surfaces | Painting board · Paper · Cardboard and paperboard |
| Painting methods | Meticulously detailed egg-tempera painting on rigid boards |
| Common subjects | Figures, nuns, landscapes, portraits, and symbolic scenes |
| Known for | Highly controlled egg tempera technique and illustrations for Time magazine |
| Notable works | Fear · After the Rain · Walter Cronkite |
Sources: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Smithsonian: Fear, Frye Art Museum: After the Rain, National Portrait Gallery: Walter Cronkite, Ashley Gibson Barnett Museum of Art: Robert Vickrey works, and Archives of American Art.
Paint types used
See the paint types documented in Vickrey's work, with links to PaintZeal references explaining each medium's properties, uses, and working characteristics.
Acrylic Paint
Acrylic paint is a fast-drying, water-based paint made with pigment and an acrylic polymer binder. It is widely used in art and decorative projects because it is versatile and durable.
Watercolor
Watercolor paint is a water-based art medium made with pigment and a water-soluble binder. It is known for transparent color that settles into absorbent paper.
Gouache
Gouache paint is an opaque, water-based art medium made with pigment and a water-soluble binder. Traditional formulas dry to a matte finish and can be reactivated with water.
Surface types used
See the surface types documented in Vickrey's work, with links to PaintZeal references explaining how each support behaves and is prepared for painting.
Painting Board
Painting board is a rigid artist support made from hardboard, wood, or another stable panel material. It may be sold raw or prepared with a medium-specific ground layer.
Paper
Paper is an absorbent sheet material made primarily from cellulose fibers. Its weight, sizing, surface texture, and wet strength determine how much paint it can accept before buckling, pilling, bleeding, or warping.
Cardboard
Cardboard is a paper-based sheet material made from compressed fibers, often with corrugated fluting between liner sheets. It is lightweight and absorbent, so heavy wet coats can soften or warp it.
Painters similar to Robert Vickrey
Explore painters similar to Robert Vickrey through egg tempera, precise figurative technique, symbolic realism, rigid supports, and carefully layered surfaces.
George Tooker
George Tooker was an American painter known for egg tempera scenes of offices, subways, waiting rooms, and other modern spaces, often centered on isolation and social tension.
Paul Cadmus
Paul Cadmus was an American painter known for figurative paintings, social satire, and sustained use of egg tempera throughout much of his career.
Michael Bergt
Michael Bergt is an American painter known for egg-tempera figures on panels, often paired with acrylic or gold leaf and imagery drawn from mythology.
John Wilde
John Wilde was an American Magic Realist known for intricate oil paintings on wooden panels, depicting surreal figures, animals, still lifes, and imagined worlds.
Jared French
Jared French was an American painter known for precise egg-tempera pictures of figures and symbolic scenes, associated with Magic Realism.
Mavis Smith
Mavis Smith is an American painter known for luminous egg-tempera portraits built in translucent layers on gesso panels and atmospheric oil paintings.