Historically fatal toxicity
Lead is a well-documented neurotoxin; historical exposure among painters and pigment workers is well documented in the medical literature.
Banned or heavily restricted in most countries for paint and consumer products due to lead toxicity. Not used in modern artists' paint from major manufacturers.
- Source material
- Basic lead carbonate, produced from metallic lead
- Geography
- Produced and used across the ancient Mediterranean, later throughout Europe
- Earliest documented use
- Antiquity (at least the 4th century BCE)
- Cost & availability
- Widely available and relatively inexpensive for most of its long history.
- Production (historical summary)
- Produced by exposing lead to vinegar fumes and carbon dioxide over an extended period — the dominant white pigment for over two thousand years.
- Stability & lightfastness
- Excellent opacity and covering power, but can darken when exposed to sulfur compounds. (excellent)
- Replacement / obsolescence
- Largely phased out from the 20th century in favour of titanium white and zinc white, which are non-toxic.