excerpt from the book..The earliest form of painting was with colours ground in water. Egyptianartists three thousand years B.C. used this method, and various mediums,such as wax and mastic, were added as a fixative. It was what is nowknown as tempera painting. The Greeks acquired their knowledge of theart from the Egyptians, and later the Romans dispersed it throughoutEurope. They probably introduced tempera painting into this country fordecoration of the walls of their houses. The English monks visited theContinent and learnt the art of miniature painting for illuminatingtheir manuscripts by the same process. Owing to opaque white being mixedwith the colours the term of painting in body-colour came in use.Painting in this manner was employed by artists throughout Europe inmaking sketches for their oil paintings.