When you look at an old, renaissance-era painting, whether it be in a museum or online, you can’t help but feel some appreciation for the artist who toiled to bring an idea to painted reality. You might know about the artist’s life, or what the piece is called. But something that you might not know is that some of the paints that were used in those pieces were much deadlier than you might think.
Paint has always been an important tool in the history of art. In prehistoric ages, things like dirt and animal blood were mixed to create art pieces on the walls of their caves. In Ancient Egypt, materials like sand, lime, and copper ore were heated up to create the famous Egyptian Blue. In the 15th century, oil paints revolutionized the art industry. However, some paints were more poisonous than others.
Poisonous Paint #1: Lead White
Lead white was a particular shade of white that has been regularly used as far back as the 4th Century BCE by Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. The high opacity, warm glow, and density of this paint made it desirable by many, up until the 1970s when its usage was banned. Used by many well-known artists such as Van Gogh and Vermeer, it was always the first choice.
Lead white was made by taking a block of lead and grinding it into a powder, which would release highly toxic leaden dust particles in the air. Breathing these in would cause “Painter’s Colic”, more commonly known today as lead poisoning.
But how does lead poisoning work?
When lead enters your body, it attacks almost every organ system in your body, alongside the nervous system and others. For children, it causes problems with brain and growth development and for adults, it causes high blood pressure, nervous system, brain, stomach, and kidney damage, and other health complications.
Other uses for Lead White were ointments, plaster, and cosmetics.
Poisonous Paint #2: Paris/Emerald Green
Previously called Scheele’s Green, this color is perhaps one of the most famous shades that people know. Loved by artists including Monet, Van Gogh, Seurat, and many others, it was a shade wildly popular during Victorian times. Not only was it used in famous paintings; one could find this vibrant green in wallpapers, children’s toys, and clothing. Women in factories would work with gallons of this dye, and would often be very sickly as a result.
The thing that gave both a lethal dose of poison and an entrancing green shade? Arsenic.
Once a resource as common as plastic during Victorian times, we now know today that arsenic is a highly poisonous substance that shouldn’t be tampered with.
The bright green color was made by Swedish Scientist William Scheele in 1775, when he mixed arsenic, copper sulfate, and sodium carbonate together, creating a bright green dye like no other.
Arsenic poisoning is when a lethal dose of arsenic is ingested into the victim’s body. Symptoms include vomiting and abdominal pain. Prolonged exposure can even cause cancer and other deadly diseases.
Poisonous Paint #3: Vermillion
Vermillion is a color that people are still familiar with today. Its iconic red-orange color is still seen today, albeit in synthetic form. However, it originated thousands of years ago, at least the 10th millennium BC. Used by Greeks, Persians, Romans, and Egyptians alike, the color has shown itself as a prominent shade in history. Its vibrancy and rich tones made it a color loved by most people.
The scarlet shade was made by grinding up Cinnabar, the most common ore of oxidized mercury, into a powder for pigment.
People would use the paint in painting masks, making ink, creating frescoes, and it was popular in Hindu culture for women to wear it as a sign of marriage and for other Hindus to wear it for religious purposes.
As we know, mercury is a highly toxic chemical, and contact or exposure to the elements can cause irreversible damage to your body. Effects include slow reflexes, damaged motor skills, and intelligence disorders. It attacks the nervous system, which can cause damage to not only the nerves but can be bad for the brain as well, depending on the dosage. However, people didn’t seem to mind, as it brought a rich, religiously important, and culturally significant color that is now one of the most recognizable ones in history.
There are many other colors not mentioned, like a shade of orange using uranium oxide, or Naples yellow, which also contained lead. There was also mummy brown, which used real crushed-up mummies for pigment and texture. Some weren’t as toxic, like royal purple, which used the mucus of thousands of snails, or Indian Yellow, which was dyed by cow urine.
Today, however, there are innumerable synthetic, safer alternatives to these dangerous paints. Research has given scientists and artists the knowledge they need to keep themselves safe whilst still producing breathtaking art. The history of art is truly fascinating, unlike any other history, because it tells a story often overlooked. But the art created is something that nobody else can replicate. Colors might be deadly, but with today’s knowledge and skill, someone could easily create a masterpiece that you might see in an art museum.
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