The dye was used in pre-Hispanic illustrated codices and in the codices produced around the time of the 1521 Spanish Conquest. By midcentury, as the curator Georges Roque writes in the show’s catalog, cochineal was being transported in bulk to Seville. PhotoLouis XIV ordered the upholstery of the chairs and the royal bed curtains at Versailles to be dyed with cochineal. Advertisement Continue reading the main storyLike the Venetians, the painters who adopted cochineal most consistently worked in port cities. The British, too, were captivated by cochineal, which was used to dye the wool cloth for army officers’ uniforms.

Source: New York Times November 27, 2017 19:07 UTC