“Casta Paintings (1785),”

 Who:
o The editor is Susie S. Porter, Nora E. Jaffary, and Edward Osowski. The
chapter is from their book “Mexican History: A Primary Source Reader,”
Porter is an associate professor of history at University of Utah in Utah.
Besides that, Jaffary is Assistant Professor of History at Concordia University
in Montreal. She is also the author of False Mystics: Deviant Orthodoxy in
Colonial Mexico. Furthermore,Edward Osowski is a history professor at John
Abbott College
 What:
o Scholarly monograph (secondary source). About Casta Paintings which were
pictures to describe the multicultural mixed race. In the eighteenth century,
this creative category native to Latin America become known. The target
audience is Spanish, who both are born in America (criollo) and Iberian
(peninsular). The intermixing of Spanish, Indian and African blood recorded
by the sixteen scenes which upon agreement. Besides that, the family portraits
were portrayed the children who were from the variety of racial group.

 When:
o The book was published in December 2009 and the chapter content is about
the eighteenth century, in 1785. The paintings were created in 1785 by
Francisco Clapera.

 Where:
o The central geographical focus of the article is in Latin America during the
eighteenth-century (1785). When the artist, who named Francisco Clapera,
developed his career in Latin America. He traveled to Peru then journeyed to
Mexico at the age of thirty. Then, Clapera taught in the Royal Academy of San
Carlos, which is an art college for at least 1791. In 1785, Clapera finally
produced a series of casta paintings.

 Why Important:
o The importance of Casta Paintings is the paintings not only depicting the
Spanish fascination with mixed-race, but the pieces also illustrating the other
features typical of the genre. For example, the influence of The Age of
Enlightenment. As the paintings depicting the leading philosophical and
scientific preoccupations of the time, such as a celebration of the natural
splendor of New World as well as the recording of daily’s culture life (pg.
174). Besides that, the author’s main argument is the difficulties of the
Spaniards in colonial Mexico were facing is the racial anxiety. The author
argues that the strain of racial anxiety not only aggravate the expansion in size
of New Spain’s casta population but also increased the social mobility.

 Reading Notes:
o The offspring of parents of different racial groups are depicted in these
carefully labeled family portraits.
o Unlike every other well-known painters of such works, who were all
American-born, Clapera was a Spaniard.
o Clapera was born in Barcelona and he developed his career in Latin America.
o In 1785, Clapera met the Spaniard Jeronimo Antonio Gil, who found New
Spain’s art college in Mexico.
o Clapera taught in the Royal Academy of San Carlos until at least 1791.
o The paintings not only illustrating the implications of race mixing, but also
depicting the other features typical of the genre.
o The paintings also including the celebration of the natural splendor of the New
World and the recording of the material culture of daily life.
o “In this way, casta paintings exemplify one of the central dilemmas that
Spaniards in colonial Mexico confronted: racial anxiety about their inferior
status vis-a-vis peninsular Spaniards, and at the same time pride in the
distinctiveness that their connections to the bounteous New World conferred
upon them.” (Pg.174)