Lead White

For hundreds of years, Lead White (pigment colour index PW1) was the most important white pigment on the European artist’s oil paint palette. Lead can be extremely harmful to the nervous system if inhaled or ingested. For painters of the past using Lead White oil paint, lead poisoning wasn’t an inevitable occupational hazard however artists such as, Michelangelo, Caravaggio, Goya and Van Gogh have all been suspected of sufferering from lead poisoning.


Film by the Jackson’s Team at the Jackson’s Studio, London. This film features Evie Hatch, Studio and Materials Specialist at Jackson’s Art Supplies.

#leadwhite #whitepigments #painting #pigments #artmaterials

[gildahobbs]

I find it so interesting how over the centuries, madness has been associated with creativity and has become a cultural thing

[BoxheadHakx]

It's wild how wide reaching effects from lead have had in history.

[Dapper_Doormat]

As a kid who came pretty close to brain damage from lead poisoning PLEASE GET YOUR HOUSES CHECKED FOR LEAD PAINT!!!

[bartlesbee]

Thank you for using captions and changing their color when needed.

[Jaxck]

The word “plumbing” comes from the Latin word for Lead. It’s also why Lead’s elemental symbol is “Pb”.

I got to see lead white in my mother's oil paints in the early 1980s, and it was well known to be toxic but still used. I haven't seen it since. My whites are zinc, titanium and Chinese (transparent).

[angelacrabtree]

Heavy metal poisoning has been a risk taken by artists in many mediums.
Early photographers dealt with silver poisoning.

[elizabethstraney]

That is also where mad as a hatter comes from. To make felt hats they used lead. It wasn't just something made up for Alice in Wonderland.

[stravaganza]

You look like a talking 18th century painting, absolutely beautiful ❤

[johnandersen]

Don’t forget van Gogh and his brother suffered from veneral disease which would not only be depressing but fatal at the time.
Treatments included using mercury could only make things worse.

[kikicz]

My friends brother was stripping white paint off a very old barn, he started exhibiting extremely erratic behaviour & ended up nearly killing himself by jumping through thick plate glass window of a building lobby, severing his arm almost clean off. Turned out he had extreme lead poisoning from the paint removal process & the injury helped save his life. Be careful out there, lead is still around, in places you’d never think of.

[Liusila]

Shoutout to titanium white! Can’t do a single painting without it.

[silverwater]

I heard of a recent case of a young girl ( under10 yo) dying from lead poisoning. They found out too late what was her strange illness. She was wearing all the time a necklace with a pendant containing lead that she often puts in her mouth. Caution with cheap jewelry: never allow children to put them in their mouth.

[Hypatia]

Michael Spafford, a U.Wash. painting PhD who did a commission of the 12 Labors of Hercules" for the state capitol's rotunda, died of complications from his use of lead white. He died in 2022! He used to go down to Mexico every summer break to bring it back, bacause he thought it to be the truest white.

[Acide]

Don't forget that lead paint was also used for children's toys. Very charming

[robinsashley]

I am almost 69 years old. I have a small amount of understanding about paints, etc. and really never found them a subject of much interest. Until your videos. You are wonderful and are an exemplar of how one can make a subject fascinating.

[gabrielfair]

Lead was used in NASCAR fuel and exaust until a couple of years ago. And is still used in private planes

[sweetlorikeet]

I've seen some comparisons and honestly the lead whites were so much more luminous, I can see why people chose them fully knowing how toxic they were.

[Chickenface]

I love her style and type of beauty! So radiant, round and soft! There's something renaissance-like to her.

[sashatoao]

You could be a main character in so many things with your look and your voice. Especially with the way you're dressed, the hair, and your topic of interest.