Ceruse
A white lead face paint worn in Europe from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries.
Also: Venetian ceruse, spirits of Saturn
Ceruse was made from white lead mixed with vinegar and was the fashionable face whitener of Renaissance and later Europe; the best was said to come from Venice. Queen Elizabeth I of England is often pictured with a white-painted face. It caused lead poisoning and damaged skin, which wearers covered with more paint. It was replaced by safer zinc oxide powders in the nineteenth century.