The Toxic Legacy of Art's Most Important Pigment

Lead paint is the stuff of nightmares when it comes to buying a home and raising children. Flakes of paint to be inhaled or ingested, it’s unsettling. But lead’s importance in society, and the arts especially, may surprise you. Lead white was popular because of its density. One good coat ensured complete coverage, which is why it took so long to get away from.

Lead white was common throughout antiquity. The Romans incorporated it into their plaster to get bright whites. The Romans incorporated lead into a lot of things, actually -- one being their water systems. Theory has it lead poisoning from corroded plumbing is one of the contributing factors of the fall of Rome. You know, a lot of this is starting to sound familiar. But that’s just a theory. An ART! Theory. Annnnnd…

White lead was also so simple to make. Theophrastus, the successor to Aristotle, describes it in a paragraph.

“A piece of lead as big as a brick is placed above some vinegar in a cask. When after about ten days the lead has acquired thickness, the cask is opened and a kind of mildew scraped from the lead, which [the lead] is repeatedly placed in this way until it is used up. The scrapings are pounded in a mortar and continually strained away; and the white lead is the matter finally left deposited.”

Described online at NaturalPigments.com, the “Dutch” method is a refinement of this process.

“Our lead white is made in relatively small amounts according to 16th century Dutch method, differing little to the "stack" process of history. The method for the "stack" process is: Metallic lead in the form of strips is exposed for about three months in earthenware pots, which have a separate compartment in the bottom containing a weak solution of acetic acid (vinegar).”

By using strips instead of one solid block, a larger surface area is achieved, creating more lead flake in the process.

“The pots are stacked in tiers over a layer of horse manure in a shed. After the shed is closed, the combined action of acetic acid vapors, heat and carbon dioxide from the fermenting manure, carbon dioxide in the air and water vapor slowly transforms the lead to basic lead carbonate.”

While it’s difficult to convey how beloved White Lead was, the fact that the hazard is still sought out today should provide some insight. George O’Hanlan, technical director of NaturalPigments shares photos of their process in a forum post from 2007.

“Our lead white is made according to this manner in a carefully controlled environment to duplicate the method used by the Dutch and ensure the purity of the pigment. It is thoroughly washed to remove impurities and ground. Rublev Colours lead white is a warm white of crystalline particles that vary greatly in size than the finely-divided modern lead white available today.”

Now sure, we’ve all heard that lead is bad, and the pipes in flint and on and on, but can a little paint really hurt? Besides possibly bringing down the Roman empire, it’s difficult to tell on the consumer end -- but there was definitely a sickness tied to all those who worked with the paint. Known as “Painter’s Colic,” the identification of the disease and its cause is chronicled through Dr. Wiliam Stokes’ notes in the 1834 London Medical and Surgical Journal. 

“I wish to say a few words on some cases of painter's colic, which you have noticed in the wards. Painter's colic is a disease which is not uncommon in this country; during this season we are seldom without a case of it in the hospital, but it appears to me that with respect to its nature a great many erroneous opinions prevail.”

Now a colic is a form of abdominal distress, and you’ve probably already had it, because it happens to just about every baby adapting to eating outside the womb. Like everything else, breast milk and formula are foreign to a newborn baby -- but this was “painter’s colic,” a work-related disease. Babies don’t work.

This work-related disease was especially fearsome. With effects ranging from abdominal distress and blue lines on the teeth, to blindness and paralysis, the colic aspect of “Painter’s Colic” happened to be the most universal. Despite all these symptoms, the prevailing notion was that colic was a blockage in the intestinal tract.

“Some persons maintain that it is a mechanical obstruction of the intestinal canal, depending on spasm of its muscular fibres; and indeed when you look at the affection superficially, this opinion seems very reasonable, for there is great pain, constipation, [and] spasm of the abdominal muscles, and contraction of the belly in general, which appears as if it was pressed backwards towards the spine.”

The treatment was a strange one for the times:

“This doctrine also has been further countenanced by the occasionally favourable effects of remedies calculated to remove spasm, as hyoscyamus, opium, and tobacco.”

Another school of thought maintained that Painter’s Colic was an inflammation of the lining of the intestinal wall. Dr. Stokes came to a different conclusion.

“...there is no indication of an active inflammation of the digestive tube, and we have no fever present.”

Surmising that there was no inflammation, and that this was actually an affliction of the nervous system, made apparent from the extreme effects of the disease, like blindness and paralysis. Dr. Stokes decided to experiment:“We had a patient with painter's colic, who was labouring under profound coma, and I determined to try whether an opiate would increase or diminish it, from my strong suspicion that the coma was, like the other symptoms of this disease, unconnected with congestion or inflammation. We gave him a full opiate in the evening, and [the] next morning he was found sitting up in bed quite free from coma, and with his sight and hearing (of which he had been deprived) completely restored.”

So what did his experiments conclude? 

“What then is the real nature of the disease? It appears most probably to be a nervous affection of the intestines, and it is also likely that the spinal system is also engaged.”

So, mystery solved. In 1834. 143 years before lead paint was regulated out of use in the United States. And 173 years before George posted his little tutorial online. So why does its use continue today? Why can’t artists and businesses let it go? Simply put, white lead made the best white paint -- nothing could compare.

Startling still, is the thought that lead poisoning might be a factor in artistic genius. In a 2013 Atlantic article entitled, “How Important Is Lead Poisoning to Becoming a Legendary Artist?,” Olga Khazan, posits that very question. She quotes 18th century physician Bernardinus Ramazzini, who noticed a trend in the symptoms of artists:

“Of the many painters I have known, almost all I found unhealthy … If we search for the cause of the cachectic and colorless appearance of the painters, as well as the melancholy feelings that they are so often victims of, we should look no further than the harmful nature of the pigments…” 

Khazan’s article describes the history of lead paint, including the destructive effects of lead poisoning before making a bold claim:

“In fact, the ailments that many renowned artists experienced didn't just prompt their gloomy works—they might have been caused by them, too.”

Yet another toxic standard for aspiring artists to live down to.