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A Brief History of the Cranberry

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A Brief History of the Cranberry

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A Brief History of the Cranberry

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A Brief History of the Cranberry

In the 2004 Painters of Reality-exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and at Cremona four sheets with botanical studies by Leonardo da Vinci from the Royal Collection at Windsor were included. One showed, according to the catalogue, a Spray of Cranberry. But what do we make of that?

Coix lacryma-jobi (picture: Kurt Stueber)

Did Leonardo da Vinci in fact depict another introduced species? Which means in this case: a plant – a berry – whose actual home region was not Europe, but America (New England or Canada). Or was this another one of this fancies, many of which I have discussed in my ›Leonardo da Vinci’s Travels to the East‹ (Leonardo da Vinci im Orient. Geschichte eines europäischen Mythos) of 2010? Fancies that have to do with the Leonardo-genius myth that wants Leonardo to be extraordinarly clearsighted and avantgardesque, or even wants him to be a traveller (who might have depicted this berry in other regions, here: New England, even if New England might, at the time, still have meant India for him).

Those who already know my book also know about the other, the actually Eastern neophyte Leonardo indeed depicted, a grass named Job’s Tears (Coix lacryma-jobi), which probably was introduced to Europe in the aftermath of Europeans travelling to Asia.

Guelder rose

Scholars like Alfred W. Crosby and others have studied the introducing of species in the aftermath of the European conquests, including, by the way, the history of weeds. Which means that one might study the history of the Conquista on the level of weeds (and other species). Which, also, might give a simple dandelion (but what is simple anyway?), whereever you might find it, another meaning.

But what about the cranberry? Is there a hidden backstory to that particular berry we don’t know about? How could Leonardo da Vinci have known about that berry?

Well, first of all. Leonardo was designating that berry he depicted ›acero frutta dj corallo‹. Secondly: that fruit had been identified earlier as a guelder rose, and also as Pyrus torminalis, probably Viburnum lantana.

The Painters of Reality-catalogue seems also to have known about that, and the reason that this particular sheet (RL 12421) was still designated as a Spray of Cranberry, simply might have been the fact that ›European Cranberry‹ seems to have been another name for guelder rose (a plant which is not related to the cranberry).

Thus, on a level of microhistory, we are learning a lot. On botany. But also on what might be hidden behind botany, i.e. on human history. And also on the history of fancies. Fancies intruding other levels of history. And in that sense this is not about a slip, a negligent labelling, but about the flight of fancy that might follow such labelling. Or not follow, given that we delve – which is, by the way, a pleasure – into the history of a berry (which also might be studied here).

Index of Leonardiana

Backlist: Leonardo da Vinci’s Travels to the East

(Picture: raremaps.com)

Leonardo da Vinci’s Travels to the East

It was in 1881 that Leonardo scholarship, for the very first time, was confronted with a very particular idea: that Leonardo da Vinci, the historic Leonardo, had spent two years of his life in Middle Eastern regions. This book is about the history of this very idea that actually goes back to Leonardo himself (although, as far as we know, he never actually, i.e. physically made such a trip; nonetheless among his writings the description of a fictitious or, if you like, mental trip can actually be found, and of course this is where the modern idea did originate, when modern scholarship, at the end of the 19th century, began to study Leonardo’s notes and writings).
You may read this book in three different but also closely connectable ways: as a history of Leonardo scholarship, focussing on the history of this particular idea; as a history of Leonardo reception in scholarship, literature and popular culture, again, focussing on this very idea. And, last but not least, as a book on Leonardo da Vinci’s relations to the Orient, since, as I thought from the beginning when writing this book, a discussion of a particular myth has to be embedded into a discussion of everything that bears on that myth and at the same time is real and can, with scholarly legitimacy, being described as being real. Thus and thirdly: this is also the first book that covers fully (and not only by summing up other people’s scholarship!) the topic ›Leonardo da Vinci and the Orient‹.

Im Jahre 1881 sah sich die kunsthistorische Fachwelt
zum ersten Male mit der These konfrontiert, dass Leonardo da Vinci
im Orient gewesen sei. Die sich als Reaktion darauf entwickelnde Debatte
ist das Kernthema dieses Bandes, der ihre Geschichte nachzeichnet
als Kulturgeschichte einer Idee, die über die Fachwelt hinaus
auch auf Literatur und Populärkultur eingewirkt hat.
Basierend auf der neuesten Forschung bietet der Band zudem
den ersten Gesamtüberblick über die vielfältigen Beziehungen
des historischen Leonardo zur orientalischen Welt, dargeboten
in einem umfassend angelegten Anhang, in dem sich ein kulturelles
Gesamtpanorama ost-westlicher Beziehungen entfaltet.

Order soon – it might be the last copy on stock:

http://www.amazon.de/Leonardo-Vinci-Orient-Geschichte-europäischen/dp/3412205265/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1402232247&sr=1-1

(and yes, it is being read by non-German speaking audiences, too; sadly no English translation is yet available) (cover picture: amazon.de; small picture above: DS)

(Picture: raremaps.com)

Leonardo da Vinci’s Travels to the East

(Picture: DS)

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A Brief History of the Cranberry