Aztec Red and Maya Blue: Secrets of the New World

Abstract

Spain's conquest of the New World brought many exotic products to the European market. None was more spectacular than the deep luscious red color that they called grana cochinilla. Once its superb qualities were recognized, this so-called Aztec Red quickly eclipsed its Old World counterparts both in the dye bath and on the artists' palette. Its mysterious origin and recognized value, jealously guarded by the Spanish regime, was the object of both piracy and espionage. No less mysterious was the virtually indestructible ubiquitous blue pigment that graced ancient murals of the indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica. This is the tale of how this color, forever bearing the misnomer of Maya Blue, became the nexus of modern scientific research. As the first hybrid nanomaterial, its discovery borders on science fiction.