They eventually found that the ceiling in her bedroom was decorated with pigments full of arsenic. The CIA suspected the Soviets and sent a team to Rome to investigate. However, Victoria Finley writes in The Brilliant History of Color in Art, “Even as late as 1950 the United States ambassador to Italy, Clare Boothe Luce, fell sick from arsenic poisoning. It is unlikely that many of the Scheele’s Green products are still around. Blackberry Thorn wallpaper pattern by William Morris Wiser Today However, a tragic pattern soon emerged-it was particularly lethal to the most vulnerable: children, the elderly and the sickly. Some people exposed to the paint would fall ill, while others with a similar exposure, did not. Why? Because the arsenic did not affect everyone the same way. Napoleon on Saint Helena, watercolor by Franz Josef Sandmann Tragically MisunderstoodĪs the opening quote by William Morris highlights, the action of arsenic in the human body was not understood by many of the users and practitioners that made the color so famous. Although there is no conclusive evidence, it is suspected that the arsenic in the wallpaper may have contributed to Napoleon’s death. Helena, may have caused the arsenic to off-gas or perhaps even flake off the wallpaper itself. Helena Island, where the deposed ruler died in exile, showed traces of Scheele’s Green in the fleur-de-lis pattern printed on it. Historic rumor has it that the vivid green wallpaper in Napoleon’s bedroom on St. It was also used in wallpapers, insecticidal sprays used on vegetables and postage stamps. Scheele’s Green (later reconfigured as Paris Green and Emerald Green) was not just used in dyes and paints. ![]() Arsenic green 19th century wallpaper designed by William Morris Death…By Green? ![]() The ingredient that made the color in Scheele’s Green so vibrant was also responsible for its deadliness. ![]() Children in green rooms were documented as “wasting away.” Women in green dresses were struck ill, swooning in droves. Gowns, hats, gloves and socks were dyed with it, sometimes making the wearer ill through touch alone. Its vibrant color could be found in clothing, wallpaper, toys, candles, dyes and more through the end of the 19th century. So popular was the hue that even after it became common knowledge that the paint was toxic, it was still used. It all but completely replaced older green pigments based on copper carbonate that had been used up until Scheele’s discovery. Scheele’s Green became incredibly popular.
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