Cochineal

Seeing Red: The History and Production of Cochineal
-Victoria Newhall 

The color red is one that invokes a diverse range of emotions. We "see red" when we are angry, yet we may hand out or receive a red rose as a gesture of love and desire. Red is associated with blood which can depict gruesome loss of life through violence, or the emergence of life in birth. Fire can represent the torture of a soul in hell's fearsome red flames, or the regeneration of the soul as a phoenix rising from the ashes. Red represents some of life's profound dichotomies; love and hate, life and death. Throughout the world red has been used to represent natural events and emotions that are arguably at the heart of the human experience. These emotions and experiences inspire us to create tangible colors in our material world. To adorn ourselves, our homes, to visually express what we feel, or what we have seen on a canvas or rock wall. However emotionally powerful the color is, historically red has proved a difficult and disappointing color for humans to produce.

Until the invention of synthetic dyes in the middle of the 19^th century, plant, animal products, or minerals were used to create dyes and pigments. This was certainly the case for red. Elana Phipps in her article, “Cochineal Red, the Art History of a Color” notes that “the first colorants from nature to be exploited for artistic, ritual or magical use were ochers and other mineral pigments, or red earth” (5). Indeed, we see the use of red spanning time and the globe. Neanderthal material culture dating back to 200-250 thousand years ago indicates that Neanderthals were using red ochre in burial practices as a pigment for wall paintings and possibly as body paint (Roebroeks 1889). In China, red is considered a lucky color that symbolizes prosperity and health, where ancient Egyptians associated the color with the trickster god, Seth (Greenfield 2).

Image 1. Neanderthal cave paintings. El Castillo Cave, Spain. Dated to around 40,800 years ago. (Pedro Saura)

The red ochre pigment used by Neanderthals produced a muddied red on the cave walls. Asian painters in the fifth century B.C. used cinnabar which produced a more vibrant red, but it was expensive, poisonous (as it is a form of powdered mercury), and often turned black when exposed to sunlight (Greenfield 3). Red dye for textiles was even more difficult to produce and to maintain as the materials used to create red dye often were not colorfast and would either not take to the material, or would fade quickly. This led red fabric to become highly sought after and valued. Though not as rare as purple red dyes in Europe were still costly. People of high status and cardinals with their red robes (who were seen to hold spiritual power) became associated with the color.

             In the late 1400’s Venetian dyers were known for their ability to make beautiful red dyes made primarily from kermes. The deepest and most sought after red at the time was “Venetian scarlet” (Greenfield 32). Venetian guilds held their dye recipes close and benefited from the wealth and power of this secret. In 1523, after the colonization of South America and formation of New Spain, a new dyestuff, cochineal, would be introduced to Europe that would revolutionize the world of red dye. Able to produce brilliant crimsons, and colorfast soft pinks, cochineal became “a perfect red".

An Ancient Art:

Centuries before Spanish conquest dyers in the Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Mexico had mastered the art, cultivation and production of cochineal dye. Cochineal (Dactylopius coccus) is a member of the scale family, and native to South America. The females are flightless and feed off the nopal cactus (Opuntia ficus-indica), better known as the "prickly-pear" cactus. These females produce carminic acid to protect themselves from predation. This acid is also the colorant that produces the powerful red dye.

Cultivation of cochineal is extremely labor intensive as the insects cannot tolerate rain, humidity, and though rare in South America, one frost can wipe out an entire crop. Processing and harvesting cochineal is no easy task either and is one that, traditionally, can last for weeks (Baskes 103). The female insects are brushed from the cactus into a bowl then dried in the sun for four or five days. It can take as many as 70,000 dried cochineal bodies to produce one pound of dye (Greenfield 39). The colorant is extracted from these dried bodies in water where  mordant, or mineral salt, is mixed in to allow bonding of the dye to the fibers. Other additives such as acids and alkali are used to create a range of colors from crimson, to purple, or black (Phipps 10). Flattened cakes of dried cochineal are mixed with clay or flour which allows for efficient selling and transport, called nocheztlaxcalli, from the Aztec word for cochineal (Phipps 13). Traditionally, cochineal was primarily used as a textile dye but, much like it is used today, it was also used as a paint, in cosmetics, and even to dye tamales! This labor intensive process demonstrates the ingenuity of the human mind and spirit, and the lengths we will go to produce and acquire color.

           

Image 2.This 17th century illustration titled "Dibujo de la obtención de la grana o cochinilla", depicts a Spaniard and an indigenous man harvesting cochineal from the nopal cactus. In reality, the majority of cochineal was grown and harvested by the indigenous people. (Archivo General de Indias)

Production and Power

As red symbolized status and power in Europe, so it did in South America. An array of tunics excavated in Peru are shown to have been dyed with cochineal. Though elite and non-elites alike wore tunics, the elaborately woven and those that used cochineal dyed yarn were reserved for the elites. In fact, these tunics were dyed and woven for the elites, by the commoners and cochineal was cultivated, produced, and was paid in tribute to these rulers (Greenfield 102, Phipps 12, Baskes 103). Upon arrival in 1519 the Spanish conquistadors were enamored with the red dye they saw in the Aztec market places. They quickly took control of the labor market, exploiting indigenous people to make as much of the dye as they could. Red then, symbolized not only power in the color itself, but also power over the people who were producing the color for them. This social stratification in the production of color made clear who was to create the color and who was to wear it. 

Image 3. Tunic. Peru, Chimu, 12^th-15^th century. Tapestry Weave cotton and cochineal-dyed camelid hair. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
        

European Arrival
            By 1523, cochineal had reached Spain and by the mid-sixteenth century Spanish flotillas were bringing “literally tons of the dried insects to Europe” (Phipps 27). Dyers there immediately became captivated with the dyestuff. It not only produced brilliant and beautiful reds not yet achieved by dye, but cochineal was ten-times more potent than kermes, and produced thirty times as much dye per ounce (Greenfield 76). Cochineal dyed fabrics quickly became fashionable among European elites, and since Spain maintained a monopoly on the material, the prices for it soared. It had caught on like wild-fire, yet no one in Europe knew what cochineal actually was. These little insects arrived dried and looked like nothing anyone had ever seen. It was called “grana” by the Spaniards as dried cochineal looked like a grain (Baskes 102). Others thought it might be a seed of some kind. Dyers and scientists alike frantically sought to unravel the mystery.

Cochineal also began to catch on among European artists during this time. Masters such as Rembrandt and Van Dyck began to incorporate cochineal into their palettes, usually mixing with a binder to create a pigment known as a lake (Phipps 36). Works such as The Jewish Bride and Charity demonstrate how cochineal lakes were used as glazes that allowed red fabrics to almost glow or shimmer, giving the impression of fine scarlet silks. Although cochineal is extremely colorfast in fabrics, where if kept properly the deep reds will maintain for centuries, cochineal pigment demonstrates poor lightfastness and often fades with exposure to light. 

Image 4. Rembrandt, The Jewish Bride. ca. 1665. Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum (Br. 416).

 

Image 5. Anthony van Dyck, Charity. ca 1627-8 (National Gallery, London).

 
 

Image 6. Renoir, Portrait of Madame Léon Clapisson (1883), and the digital recolorization (Art Institute of Chicago via the BBC).

Cochineal Today:
          With the invention of synthetic dyes, “perfect” reds are no longer difficult to come by. Producing red is easier and cheaper, thus cochineal production globally has decreased in popularity and overall monetary value. It’s cultural value, however, remains. Nopalries are still operational and people in Oaxaca, Peru and the Canary Islands continue to cultivate and harvest cochineal for export and continue to produce the dyes in the traditional way (Phipps 46). 

 

 Image 7. Oaxacan woman, María Luis Mendoza de Cruz, demonstrates how to use and make cochineal dye.

Cochineal's main use in modernity is to produce carmine, an extract that tints foods such as yogurt, ice cream, and at one point Starbucks drinks, pink or red. The material is also used in cosmetics such as rouge or lipsticks. For those are who are inclined to avoid cochineal in their food (or who are simply curious), it will be found labeled as Carmine, cochineal, carminic acid, Natural Red 4, or E120 (Parson 2015). Modern paints made from carmine are still produced, yet they have largely been replaced by synthetic red pigments due to its poor lightfastness.

 

Image 8. Modern products that utilize cochineal/carmine as a food colorant.

Artists such as Elena Osterwalder are still captured by the allure and history of cochineal pigment. Osterwalder is Native to Mexico and uses Pre-Hispanic production techniques to being forward the history of her heritage and culture into stunning installations.  

 

 Image 9. Elena Osterwalder pours out some of her handmade cochineal dye. 

 

Image 10. "Red Room"

Morgan Art of Paper Making Conservatory, Site Specific, 8'X7'x75.5'

The production of cochineal dye is no longer reserved only for elites, though the powerful symbolism of red remains in society. From sports teams, to films, to individual choice, the color red is used to portray power, love, desire, and lust, or is simply used to accent our homes or wardrobes. Although the era of cochineal may have ended, it has remained in our minds, hearts, (and possibly stomachs). It serves as a cultural heritage symbol for many and as a connection to those who produced it long ago. The legacy of cochineal reminds us of the lengths we will go to produce and maintain a color we desire.

Bibliography

Baskes, Jeremy. "Seeking Red: The Production and Trade of Cochineal Dye in Oaxaca, Mexico, 1750-1821." The Materiality of Color: The Production, Circulation, and Application of Dyes and Pigments, 1400-1800, edited by Andrea Feeser, Maureen Daly Goggin, and Beth Fowkes Tobin, Ashgate Publishing Company, 2012, pp 101-118.

Greenfield, Amy Butler. A Perfect Red. Empire, Espionage, and the Quest for the Color of Desire. Harper Collins Publishers, 2005.

Parson, Gwen. "You Know What Makes Good Food Coloring? Bugs."Wired, 2015, www.wired.com/2015/09/cochineal-bug-feature/ Accessed 31 May 2018.

Phipps, Elena. "Cochineal Red: The Art History of a Color." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, vol. 67, no. 3 2010, pp. 4-48.

Roebroeks, Wil, Mark J. Sier, Trine Kellberg Nielsen, Dimitri De Loecker, Josep Maria Parés, Charles E. S. Arps, and Herman J. Mücher. "Use of Red Ochre by Early Neanderthals." PNAS, vol. 109, no. 6, 2012, pp. 889-1894.