Zinc white

Zinc white is an inorganic pigment composed of zinc oxide that has been used by painters since the late eighteenth century. Alongside lead and titanium white, it is among the three most prominent white pigments that are commercially available today. Its primary advantages are its low toxicity (particularly in contrast with lead white) and the cool clarity of its color. It was initially developed in the 1780s by the French chemist and magistrate Louis-Bernard Guyton de Morveau, who struggled to popularize its use. The French Academy of Sciences approved of the invention in 1782, but artists from the French Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture expressed skepticism. Initially, zinc white pigment was more costly to produce than lead white, but its price diminished as production methods improved over the course of the nineteenth century. While the superior safety of zinc white had been established by the end of the eighteenth century, manufacturers of lead white downplayed these differences, and lead continued to dominate the market for white paint until the early twentieth century.

History

Since antiquity, zinc oxide has been a readily available byproduct of brass production, but the idea of using it as a pigment was not widely considered until the eighteenth century. A major impetus for trying zinc oxide as a pigment was growing concern over the toxicity of lead-based white pigments. Initial experimentation occurred in Dijon in 1780; some accounts suggest that the initiative was led by the chemist Jean-Baptiste Courtois, while others credit Guyton de Morveau.