Pineapple Art

Today we would like to welcome you to a small living room of exceptional elegance. The magnificent tapestry that embellishes it with flowering branches, exotic birds and superb pineapples, reproduces a canvas printed in 1777 and now preserved at the Musée de la Toile de Jouy in Jouy-en-Josas, in the Île-de-France.

Called "Toile au Grand Ananas" in honor of its majestic protagonist, this masterpiece was chosen for the renovation of the private apartments of Queen Marie Antoinette in Versailles, reopened to the public in 2023 after a long and meticulous restoration and enhancement work begun in 1985.

Let us remember that "toile de Jouy" fabrics had an extraordinary success between the second half of the eighteenth century and the Napoleonic period, as interpreters of the decorative taste of the time. An infinite variety of printed motifs on clothing, tapestries and porcelain invaded the City of Enlightenment with pastoral scenes, chinoiserie, gallant paintings inspired by the paintings of Fragonard and Boucher, which had by then become an absolute trend in the most prominent circles of the Parisian high society.
That same refined elite who - in the name of fashion - did not disdain to wear clothes that came out of a bath of... bovine manure! That's right, manure was necessary in the fabric manufacturing process because it served to remove tannins, mordants and dye residues that had escaped fixing. Noblesse oblige, mesdames et messieurs .

A 1785 dress in toile de Jouy (Courtesy of the Musee Oberkampf).

But let's go back to the protagonist of our story, one of the most popular and surprising artistic subjects: his majesty the pineapple.

The first monograph on pineapple: "Commentatio de Ananasa"
by Michael Friedrich Lochner, 1716.

CONQUISTADOR OF THE OLD WORLD

The oldest representation known to us in Europe is by Jacopo Ligozzi, a painter from Verona who in the second half of the 16th century portrayed a beautiful specimen of pineapple in two almost identical botanical plates, one preserved in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence and the other in the University Library of Bologna.

Jacopo Ligozzi, Pineapple. Cabinet of Drawings and Prints of the Uffizi, Florence (Inv. 1931 O).

Another century would pass before painters could immortalize domesticated specimens in Europe. Authentic rarities that, we would like to emphasize, were worth a fortune and were the exclusive prerogative of the rich and eccentric gourmets of the time.

The most daring did not take long to try out luxurious (and sometimes unappealing) desserts. This is the case of the famous pineapple and truffle salad mentioned by Marcel Proust in his novel "À l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs": the Marquis de Norpois ate it with gallant effort, submitting to duty as if it were an "oukase", that is to say a real diktat!

A pineapple and truffle salad

The first artistic representations of our exotic protagonist are due to the Dutch painters Hendrick Danckerts in 1675 and Jan Weenix who in 1694 portrayed the pineapple grown by the botanist Agneta Block on the historic estate of Vijverhof, not far from the town of Nieuwersluis.

Agneta Block with her husband Sijbrand de Flines and his daughters Anna and Elisabeth. In the background the Vijverhof estate and at the bottom left the pineapple plant.

The painting by the Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Oudry of the first pineapple grown in Versailles dates back to 1733.

The three works all commemorate exceptional events, namely the first successes in the cultivation of the precious plant far from its land of origin.

In Hendrick Danckerts' painting we see the royal gardener John Rose proudly offering King Charles II the first pineapple made in England.

H. Danckerts, 1675: John Rose presents King Charles II with the first English pineapple.

Similarly, Jean-Baptiste Oudry portrayed the first French pineapple, born from the care of Louis le Normand who was gardener of Louis XV at Versailles. It took almost three years for the fruit to ripen and unfortunately we do not know who tasted it or if its taste met expectations. It is certain, however, that the painting was much appreciated by Marie Antoinette who reserved a special place for it in her "Cabinet doré".

Jean Baptiste Oudry, Pineapple in a pot on a stone plinth, 1733.
Photo (C) Château de Versailles, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Christophe Fouin

SCENT OF PERFUMES

In pre-Columbian times, pineapple was already widespread in the wild in much of South America. Unfortunately, we still have no precise data on the beginning of its cultivation. The English historian Francesca Beauman hypothesizes that the first plantations began when the Amerindian populations of the Amazon became sedentary, which happened around 2000 BC.

The pineapple fruit was prized not only for its deliciousness but also for its medicinal properties and the preparation of fermented beverages. It grew alongside other prolific crops such as peanuts and potatoes and was particularly suited to winemaking due to its high sugar content. It was also available year-round, which increased its value in terms of productivity and use. The leaves of the plant produced very strong fibers that could be worked and woven. Pineapple fiber was the most commonly used material for bowstrings.

Even today, pineapple must wine is very popular in Florida and California, Thailand, Polynesia and Southeast Asia. With an alcohol content that can vary from 10° to 12°, it is a fresh delicacy, excellent to enjoy with tapas, tempura and sweet and sour meats.

 

Even the origin of the name "ananas", which seems to derive from the Tupi-Guaraní languages, is a reference to its unmistakable fragrance: "nanà" in fact means "perfume". Christopher Columbus tasted it for the first time in 1493 in Guadeloupe and was delighted. He then tried to import it to the Old World but the very long transport times ended up making the fruit unfit for consumption. It was not for nothing that Charles V refused to eat it, so unappealing it must have appeared after a long journey tossed around in smelly holds and exposed to attacks by insects, rodents, mold and bacteria. Today, fresh pineapples are transported in refrigerated containers, with ventilation systems to maintain uniform diffusion of the air flow and packaged in special packaging, sanitized for food use.

 

The spread of pineapple in the Old World was possible thanks to the intense commercial activities of Portuguese and Dutch navigators who introduced it to the regions with the most favorable climatic conditions for the plant. Shortly after 1502 it was already present on the island of Saint Helena, off the coast of Angola, while in India it was imported around the middle of the 16th century.

And still speaking of India, in 1596 the Dutch merchant Jan Huygen van Linschoten mentioned the great success of the pineapple whose excellent productivity had made its purchase costs much more accessible.

A plate from Jan Huygen van Linschoten's Itinerary: in addition to the pineapple, you can see the jambus (water apple), the mango, the cashew, the nangkas (jackfruit) and the gambier.

The Portuguese are also responsible for introducing it to the coastal regions of Africa, especially in Kenya and Tanzania, so much so that in the Swahili language the name "nanasi" was adopted from the Portuguese form "ananás".

Even in China, in 1656, pineapple plantations were already so common that Michał Boym, a Polish Jesuit, included pineapples among the native species in his natural history treatise "Flora Sinensis".

Michał Piotr Boym, Flora Sinensis, 1656 (Bibliothèque Universitaire Moretus Plantin, Namur).

ART OBJECT

Today, pineapple is for us the tropical fruit par excellence, its taste and familiar scent evokes the joy of summer, the cheerfulness of chiringuitos, the carefree and lively atmosphere of holidays in the sun.

Loved by artists and designers around the world, the pineapple - once a symbol of wealth but also of friendship, hospitality and celebration - never ceases to amaze us with its endless decorative and inspiring resources.

To appreciate its full value as a timeless exotic icon, we like to recall an emblematic episode dating back to May 2017.

Ruairi Gray, a Scottish Business Information Technology student at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, had the idea to sneak into the university exhibition "Look Again" while it was still being set up. Together with his friend Lloyd Jack, he left a pineapple, bought for one pound, on a table. After a few days, returning to visit the exhibition, the two discovered with great amusement that their pineapple had been put in a glass case and exhibited to the public as an original art subject. The power of suggestions? Maybe, certainly our "Grand Ananas" has once again managed to earn a place of honor, befitting its regal personality.

Ruairi Gray/Twitter

For those who wish to delve deeper, here are some bibliographical references:

F. BEAUMAN, The Pineapple: King of Fruits, London 2011 .

KAORI O'CONNOR, Pineapple: A Global History, London 2013 .

GARY Y. OKIHIRO, Pineapple Culture: A History of the Tropical and Temperate Zones, University of California Press, 2009.

G. SANEWSKI et al., The Pineapple: Botany, Production and Uses, CABI 2018.

 

Finally, the beautiful book by Lex Boon that we recommend for a relaxing and curiosities-filled read:

L. BOON, Ananas: Journey to discover a surprising fruit, Turin 2022.