History of the Painting Trades
Last updated: 2026-10-01
40,000 BCE
Cave pigments and mineral paints
3000 BCE
Egyptian and Minoan wall painting
100 BCE
Roman frescoes and limewash
1200s
Medieval guilds and painter-stainers
1700s
Rise of lead white and its long use
1800s
Linseed oil and the house painter's trade
1860s
Ready-mixed paint
1880s
Painters' union and apprenticeship
1940s
Latex paint
1978
U.S. lead paint ban in residential paint
1990s
VOC regulation and California air-district rules
2000s
Low-VOC and zero-VOC products; airless spraying
2010s+
Modern elastomeric, ceramic, and reflective coatings
Painting in California
Spanish missions used limewash and lime plaster, a tradition that shaped the Spanish Revival stucco palette characteristic of Southern California.
Mid-century color and the state's lead-safe programs marked distinct eras in residential painting.
Chicano and Mexican-American muralists in Los Angeles gave public art a central cultural role (cultural history; no reproduction of specific copyrighted works).