"These days man knows the price of everything, but the value of nothing."

Now that we've debunked a myth about art, we're going confirm another. Lately in the news there's been many cases of this and this. As our consumer markets grows busier and busier, companies resort to cheaper production alternatives in order to increase profit. But lead poisoning is not a new phenomenon. In order to give us a better understanding of it (especially in art) we must dig a little deeper into its background and its relationship with pigments.

Pigments are responsible for giving paint its brilliant color. They are usually in the form of a very fine, ground up powder so that they can be mixed with the solvent, but will not act as a solute (substance that can be dissolved). The most commonly used pigment is titanium dioxide, TiO(2), which is used in most white paints. Anyone who has dabbled in art making and mixing colors before knows that white is used with small amounts of other colors to create lighter shades of those colors, or to create entirely new colors.

Artist continued to make their own paint and pigments through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Mineral pigments (like iron oxide) were used. For example terra verte (similar to viridian or chromium oxide) was used to for some fleshy tones. This was then mixed with an oil or tempera substance to create the beloved paintings of the masters we admire today.

The 1700’s was when the first pigments began to be made in a laboratory setting. Synthetic red iron oxide was made to possess all the desired qualities of its natural counterpart. Synthetic yellow oxide evolved around the 1920’s and using the processes from synthetic yellows and reds, researchers were able to develop a formula for synthetic brown. Today, synthetic oxide pigments are used by most of the world in paint making.

As mentioned before, the most commonly used pigment is titanium dioxide, which is used to make titanium white. This wasn’t discovered until the late 18th century. Before the discovery of this and zinc white, lead white (flake white) was used for centuries. The basic chemical name of lead white is Lead (II) Carbonate, a mixture of lead and an ester (organic compound) of carbonic acid. This poses health concerns as it creates a risk for lead poisoning. Some signs that you may be experiencing lead poisoning are diarrhea, colic or severe abdominal pain, distractibility, and lack of energy, as well as head pain, mood swings, and loss of motor coordination. But adults are not the most at risk for lead poisoning. Studies show that children are at a higher risk for severe reactions to taking in lead particles. This is due to the fact that children’s toys are sometimes painted with paint containing lead as well as because they are much lower to the ground (thus having more of an opportunity to take in the dangerous particles). The immune systems of children are also not as refined as those of adults.

Today lead paint is used in some industries (sometimes illegally) because it has a good performance and is much cheaper than other alternatives, sometimes up to one third of the cost. Some artists also continue to use it today to their own assessment because they consider the white of lead paint to be a much more desirable shade then others available on the common market (though in this case, the use of lead paint would not be considered illegal). For more information on lead poisoning and hotline numbers, check out Lead Poisoning News.