The invention of the paintbrush is generally attributed to Meng Tian, a general in the Qin Dynasty who lived around 300 BC. The paintbrush greatly traveled over the course of time, and it's to the Tuscan painter Cennino Cennini that we owe the first mention of the object in the Western world.

Who created the first paintbrush?

Though quite different from the paint brushes used today, the first paintbrushes were invented by the ancient Egyptians.

What were paintbrushes made of in the 1800s?

They were made of split palm leaves while others, used by different ancestors to beautify their surroundings, were made from sticks, bones and even wood shavings. We do not know the whole history of the paintbrush, but we do know that they were originally made with animal hair.