Mummy Brown: The Historic Paint Made From Actual Egyptian Mummies

In the history of art pigments and classical decoration, few paints carry a past as macabre as Mummy Brown (also known as Egyptian Brown or Caput Mortuum). From the late 16th century to the mid-20th century, renowned painters and interior decorators used an oil paint whose key ingredient was literally ground-up ancient Egyptian mummies.

Prized for its rich terracotta hue, velvety transparency, and excellent blending qualities for glazing shadows, this paint adorned famous canvases and European estate murals before its shocking origin became widely known.

1. The Recipe: How Mummies Became Paint Pigment

During the Renaissance and the Victorian era, British and French merchants imported tons of ancient mummies from Egypt. What manufacturers sought was the combination of bitumen, myrrh, resins, and mummified human tissue preserved over millennia.

To make the paint, manufacturers ground up mummified human and feline remains into a fine powder, mixing it with linseed oil or pitch. The result was a warm brown pigment, ideal for glazing skin tones, drapery, and landscapes.

Mummy Brown's warm transparency made it a favorite pigment for glazing in European studios.

2. Artist Shock and the Burial of Paint Tubes

Many artists used the paint without realizing its literal origin, believing "mummy brown" was merely a poetic name for an Egyptian mineral.

A famous historical anecdote recounts that Pre-Raphaelite painter Edward Burne-Jones was so horrified upon discovering that his paint tube contained actual human remains that he immediately rushed out to his garden and solemnly buried the tube of paint under his lawn.

Paintings in noble Victorian estates often featured glazes containing Mummy Brown pigment.

3. The End of Production (1964)

Contrary to popular belief, commercial production of Mummy Brown didn't end due to an instant moral ban, but because suppliers simply ran out of mummies in the 20th century.

In 1964, the historic British paint maker C. Roberson & Co. officially declared that they had used up their last remaining Egyptian mummy in stock and could no longer produce the genuine pigment, replacing it with modern synthetic iron oxide colors.

This macabre chapter in decor history joins other startling historical episodes, such as toxic Victorian arsenic wallpaper and daylight deprivation caused by the British Window Tax. Today, safe materials and sustainability guide modern interior design styles.