Heritage
Verdigris (copper acetate) gave medieval manuscripts many of their greens; it was unstable, eating through parchment over centuries. Terre verte (green earth) was used for under-painting flesh in the Italian tradition. Scheele's green (1775) and Paris green, arsenic compounds widely used in the 19th century, killed an unknown number of workers and Victorian children before viridian and phthalo greens replaced them. Modern green pigments are remarkably stable.
