HIS 115 Casta Paintings and the Free People of Color Discussion Assignment – a short paper (one to one-and-a-half pages or about 350-400 words) comparing a

HIS 115 Casta Paintings and the Free People of Color Discussion Assignment – a short paper (one to one-and-a-half pages or about 350-400 words) comparing and contrasting the people shown in the Casta paintings from 18th Century Mexico and the “Free People of Color” in pre-revolutionary Saint Domingue as documented in Geggus’ book.

BACKGROUND – the “Free People of Color” in pre-revolutionary Haiti does not fit neatly into the history of slavery and identity that is known in the United States. Nevertheless, these people – and how they were understood – is an important part of Haitian history. In a similar fashion the depiction of families of mixed ancestry in Mexico (shown in the Casta Paintings) demonstrate that people understood that many people in their society were “multi-racial” (to use an inaccurate phrase). Both sources – the paintings and the documents in Geggus’ book show that this was an accepted part of society across the Americas. Can you use these two very different sorts of sources for greater understanding?

PROMPT – Does thinking about the Casta paintings help you understood the existence of the “Free People of Color” and their place in Saint Domingue society? How?

Also – use the term Free People of Color – which is historically accurate – do not lapse into “Colored People” an old and now ugly phrase for people of African Descent in the U.S.. Try and keep your instructor happy as they read your paper.

down below I am attaching the powerpoint of the casta paintings and text from “free people of color” Casta Paintings
• Some background. Mexico was part of Spain’s overseas empire and had been since Cortes arrived in 1519.
By the late eighteenth century (1700s) Mexico had developed its own distinct society. Dominated by people
of Spanish ancestry – who identified as Spanish though they were born in the Americas – Criollos or Creoles
– with a large indigenous population, and a notable population of African descent (both slaves and free). And
then of course there were those of mixed ancestry – Castas. These paintings – series of paintings – describe
Castas, who they were.
• This genre of painting was an attempt to explain and depict life in Mexico for people in Spain. They were at
once ethnographic, an attempt to document life, and proto-scientific, an attempt to produce an ordered
account of the different sorts of people that had been produced by mixing over time. The artistic quality of
the paintings vary as do the messages.
• The structure of this file follows the organization of the Casta paintings, which is shown in detail in the
following slides. On some slides there is voice over commentary – you will need to click on the speaker icon
to hear these. Over time I have added additional images so that you can see the variation between series
and the different ways artists depicted people. Some are images from the web, others are my photos from
Museums, which accounts for their uneven quality and layout. The ones with the red background are from
the Denver Museum of Art, which has an excellent Colonial Latin American collection, and the ones with
brown wall plaque explanations from an exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art that had a lot of
paintings from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. I really love these paintings so I may have gone a bit
overboard.
Miguel Cabrera, 1763
1.De Español y d’India; Mestiza
2.De español y Mestiza, Castiza
3.De Español y Castiza, Español
4.De Español y Negra, Mulata
5.De Español y Mulata; Morisca
6.De Español y Morisca; Albina
7.De Español y Albina; Torna atrás
8.De Español y Torna atrás; Tente en el aire
9.De Negro y d’India, China cambuja.
10.De Chino cambujo y d’India; Loba
11.De Lobo y d’India, Albarazado
12.De Albarazado y Mestiza, Barcino
13.De Indio y Barcina; Zambuigua
14.De Castizo y Mestiza; Chamizo
15.De Mestizo y d’India; Coyote
16.Indios gentiles (Heathen Indians)
Anonymous (Museo del Virreinato)
1.Español con India, Mestizo
2.Mestizo con Española, Castizo
3.Castiza con Español, Española
4.Español con Negra, Mulato
5.Mulato con Española, Morisca
6.Morisco con Española, Chino
7.Chino con India, Salta atrás
8.Salta atras con Mulata, Lobo
9.Lobo con China, Gíbaro
10..Gíbaro con Mulata, Albarazado
11.Albarazado con Negra, Cambujo
12.Cambujo con India, Sambiaga
13.Sambiago con Loba, Calpamulato
14.Calpamulto con Cambuja, Tente en el aire
15.Tente en el aire con Mulata, No te entiendo
16.No te entiendo con India, Torna atrás
“Of a Spaniard and an India comes a Mestizo.”
Another example.
“Of a Spaniard and Mestiza comes a Castiza.”
“Of a Spaniard and Castiza comes a Spaniard.”
“Of a Spaniard and Castiza comes a Spaniard.”
“Of a Negro and Spaniard comes a Mulatto.”
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
had a show of paintings from 18th
C Mexico in the Spring of 2018. I
took some pictures to add to this –
sorry for the iffy camera on some
of the images.
Of a Mulatto and Spaniard comes a Morisco
Of a Spaniard and Morisca comes an Albino
Of a Spaniard and Morisca comes an Albino
“Of a Spaniard and Albina comes a Negro turning
Back.”
Another example of
“Turning Back.”
“Of a Negro and an Indian comes a Wolf.”
Another from Denver, one I
haven’t seen in other series –
“from a Torno Atras and India
comes a wolf.”
Here is the same family structure with a very different feel. In a many
series of paintings there is one painting that shows this sort of family
violence. As far as I can determine this always occurs in a family where
someone is identifiably black.
Here the violence is
depicted in the family
with a Mulato and
Spaniard.
“Of an Albarazado and a Jump
Backward comes a Hanging in the
Air.” More or less what was in the
previous slide, and in this case the
artist has saved the violence for
this final depiction of familial
degeneration. Having the child in
the middle attempting to stop the
fighting also seems to be
common. There are various ways
this could be read, as Christian
symbolism, as optimism about the
products of such unions, or a
reminder that the child will suffer
from the arrangement. Slide 8
has a child in a similar pose,
though in a different context. My
sense on that one is the child is
guiding the more indigenous –
meaning less Christian –
grandparents, though that is just a
guess.
Of a Wolf and an Indian comes a Sambaiga
Francisco Clapera, De Chino, e India,
Genizara, Mexico, about 1775
“Of Sambaigo and Indian comes an Albarazado.”
“Of Indian and Albarazada comes a Chamizo.”
“Of an Albarrado and Indian comes a Cachimboreta albarrado.”
An alternate 15th painting,
“Of a Hanging in the Air
and a Mulata comes an I
don’t understand you.”
Some further points on Casta Paintings:
What might not be evident from the website we have looked at is that Casta
Paintings – or Cuadras de Castas – is that they were a fairly common genre of
painting. They were often painted explicitly to educate people in Spain – still
the power ruling Mexico – what people in this part of the Empire were like.
They are stuffed full of signs and concerns about ethnicity, identify, class, and
the different understandings of who people of African, Europan, and Indigenous
ancestry were; and who their children would be. They are a remarkably rich
visual resource offering a snapshot of culture at the end of the 19th century; at
the very moment when it was clear that the old categories dividing people had
blurred to a point where they were not really workable.
The paintings were also different, depending on the series, and of varying
artistic quality. They all convey the concerns of a dominant elite as it considered
the reality of a complex society. The following slides are intended to give
provide more examples for you to think about.

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