can you get cancer from painting with lead white ( paints old masters painted with )?

Hi. There is little evidence that too much lead in your system can lead to cancer. It can lead to lead toxicity which can be very serious, even causing death if the levels are too high.

You have to either ingest or breath in lead for this to happen, however. Skin contact is not believed to lead to absorption.

So....with lead white paint, you would have to actually ingest it; it is not volatile -- meaning it does not evaporate into the air; not the lead, anyway. People have, obviously, accidentally, ingested paint (and, famously, little children have eaten chips of it from old house paint).

Lead has been banned from house paint. It is not banned from artist's paints, though some companies do not make it anymore. Some artists want to use lead white because it has a quality that they cannot find in other whites. You can take precautions, of course -- gloves, etc. But this is a personal choice, clearly.

There are other traditional materials -- turpentine, for example -- that ARE extremely volatile and hard or impossible to avoid being exposed to if you are using them. (I actually cannot tolerate ANY turps or paint thinners; I have to use a non-toxic citrus thinner.) So....while lead can make you quite sick, it is possible to use it very carefully. But I have had (fairly low level) lead toxicity (treated for it; I am ok now), so I would not use it myself, even though I have no idea where I got the lead from -- it's a lifetime build up until you get treated if it is not too late. But, as I said, if you feel it is necessary for your work, that is your choice to make.

Lead is toxic, not carcinogenic. You can use lead based, flake or foundation white, oil paints with the same precautions you would use handling any other oil paint pigments and solvents. You still have to breath the fumes, even if you have ventilation.

Matter cannot be created pr destroyed, so lead still is there even thougt you can't see it. I'm pretty sure there is "lead white" without actual lead.