Mad Artists Disease: The Overlooked Influence of Mercury on the Lives of the Great Artists

Cooking mercury in your studio to make your own paints was not a good idea if you wanted to maintain your sanity, but it sometimes gave you that edge you needed to produce something really beautiful. Join Mary Hammond for a look at the historical use of mercury and its effect on artists. Of all of those overexposed to mercury during its heyday, artists were one of the groups most adversely affected. Not only were their reds prepared by cooking mercury and sulphur together (often right in their own studios), mercury was the go-to medicine which doctors used to combat lead poisoning, as well as many of the other afflictions to which artists were particularly susceptible because of their use of both mercury and lead in the creation of their colors. Visit my author page, linked below, for an eye opening short video on the subject. Mad Artist’s Disease is a book about artists and the art they have created, and as such, this physical version has been printed with color illustrations. The cost of production, and the cost of the book is correspondingly high. A digital version is available at a much lower price.