Victorian wallpaper was toxic.

Science & Industry

I n the Victorian era, wallpaper could — and sometimes did — kill. The culprit was in the colors — specifically, a set of wildly popular pigments known as arsenical greens. Beginning in the late 18th century, chemists

discovered how to make vivid green dyes from copper arsenite. The first, Scheele's Green, was invented in 1775 by German Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele. It was followed in 1814 by a brighter, more durable version often called emerald green (also known as Schweinfurt green, Paris green, or Vienna green), invented by German industrialist Wilhelm Sattler. Both contained arsenic — and both became fashionable favorites.

By the mid-19th century, Britain was producing tens of millions of rolls of wallpaper each year. Thanks to new printing technologies (and gas lighting that replaced candles), brightly colored papers could decorate even modest homes. Lush, leafy patterns in brilliant green became especially trendy, embraced by designers associated with the Pre-Raphaelite and Arts and Crafts movements. Not all wallpaper was toxic, but papers printed with arsenical pigments posed real risks.

Arsenic was hardly a secret poison. Victorians used it to kill rats and were well aware it could be deadly if swallowed. Its toxicity has been well known since ancient times, in fact. But many manufacturers insisted that arsenic bound up in wallpaper pigment was harmless unless someone literally licked the walls. Still, some critics suspected otherwise. Doctors in Britain and the United States began reporting mysterious illnesses linked to rooms papered in green; women and children seemed especially susceptible. In moist conditions (read: most of England), arsenic pigments were particularly harmful because they could produce toxic fumes in the form of arsenical gas. Pigment also flaked off the wallpaper and settled into surrounding dust.

Wallpaper wasn't the only problem. Arsenical greens colored dresses, artificial flowers, children's toys, candles, sweets, and even food wrappers. One 19th-century household guide, Beeton's Housewife's Treasury of Domestic Information, warned against "brilliant green" for its "pernicious influence on the health."

Public anxiety grew, and although some designers dismissed the "arsenic scare" as hysteria, consumer pressure gradually forced manufacturers to abandon the pigments. Victorian wallpaper didn't always kill — but when it shimmered an irresistible emerald, it sometimes carried a hidden, deadly cost.

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By the Numbers

Year Britain began taxing wallpaper as a luxury good

1712

Decade in which doctors first started noting the health effects of arsenic wallpaper

1850s

Did you know?

There were suspicions that arsenic poisoning led to Napoleon's death.

When Napoleon Bonaparte died in 1821 in exile on the island of St. Helena, doctors attributed his death to stomach cancer. But in the 20th century, a startling discovery called that into question: Preserved strands of his hair contained significant amounts of arsenic. Because arsenic poisoning can cause severe abdominal pain — one of Napoleon's reported symptoms — some historians proposed darker explanations. One theory claimed he was deliberately poisoned by his British captors. Another suggested a more accidental culprit: arsenic-laced wallpaper at Longwood House, where he lived. In damp conditions, arsenical pigments were thought to release toxic fumes. There was, in fact, arsenic-containing wallpaper at Longwood. But modern testing complicates the story. In 2007, Italian researchers analyzed hair samples from multiple stages of Napoleon's life. They also examined hair from his wife and son. The results showed consistently high arsenic levels across all periods, with no dramatic increase near his death. His family members' samples were similarly elevated — roughly 100 times higher than modern averages. The findings suggest chronic environmental exposure, common in the 19th century, rather than murder. Most historians now accept that Napoleon likely died of stomach cancer, not from his wallpaper.

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