History with a Twist
The Mummy Brown Paint
Overview
Artists once used actual ground-up mummies to make brown paint.
Key Insights
The Mummy Brown Paint is a fascinating subject within history with a twist. Artists once used actual ground-up mummies to make brown paint. Some artists held funerals for their paint tubes when they stopped using Mummy Brown. Made from Egyptian mummies. Discontinued when artists learned the truth. 16th–17th centuries.