Phipps Elena. Cochineal Red: The Art History of a Color

New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2010. — 50 p. — ISBN: 978-1-58839-361-6Cultures the world over and throughout history have valued color red. Whether in dyes, pigment, or inks brilliant red has be one of the most difficult hues to create. When the Spanish returned from Mexico in the 1520s with samples of a dye that produced the most intense and stunning red Europe had ever seen, it understandably caused a stir, and by 1550 the Spanish flotillas were hauling tones of the crimson treasure to Europe. Cochineal, produced from the dried and pulverized bodies of a cactus-eating scale insect, was in abundant supply and easy to use, and it quickly supplanted all other red dye stuffs.