Palmer, like George Richmond, prepared his tempera paint in a similar way to Blake. Palmer used animal glue, gum Arabic and cherry gum, and sugar.  The cherry gum, used alone, would give a very glossy paint.

Palmer applied his paint in far thicker layers than Richmond. It included a larger amount of glue than Richmond's, which would have made this easier to do. The sugar was necessary to reduce the cracking and flaking of these thick layers. This painting has several very thick, yellowed layers of varnish which were not all applied by Palmer himself.