The Colour of Death: Scheele’s Green

The poisonous tint that created Victorian fashion victims

Lime, bottle, forest, British racing car: all descriptive words for the colour green (or names on a pretentious paint chart). But have you ever heard of Scheele’s Green?

A skeleton gentleman at a ball asks a skeleton lady to dance; representing the effect of arsenical dyes and pigments in clothing and accessories. Wood engraving, 1862. Wellcome Collection. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

In 1775, Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele created the perfect hue of vivid green by combining sodium carbonate, arsenious oxide and copper sulfate.

It was incredibly cheap to manufacture and was used to dye fabrics, wallpapers, paints, toys, confectionary, beauty products, and much more.

Victorian Britain went mad for the fashionable decor colour du jour! Due to its affordability and popularity, all classes with disposable income swathed and swagged their houses and themselves in the emerald shade. Walls were papered in it, dresses were sewn with it, and even faux flowers were dusted with it. People simply couldn’t get enough.

Hex value of Scheele’s Green (picture author’s own)

Too good to be true

Those with the eyes of a lynx will have noticed the sinister word nestling in amongst the chemicals above: arsenious!