Casta Painting
Title
Casta Painting
Description
Casta paintings were family portraits displaying different Spanish colonial couples and their children that were often crafted around the 1700s. The paintings are important for a number of reasons related to race and status. The first is how they portray domestic violence or, in some cases, female aggression. This was meant to symbolize power dynamics within the family, and drew from stereotypes about certain races. For instance, most images of female aggression had black women— implying their strength (Martinez, 235). Thus, the paintings allowed outsiders to see a bit of how gender dynamics occurred (or at least were displayed) within the colonial family.
These paintings also represented the Spaniards’ biggest fear— that their blood could be ‘corrupted’ by outside influences. For instance, blackness was viewed as a permanent stain on the family tree— a sin passed down through the Biblical story of Ham (Martinez, 235). These racial signifiers manifested themselves as traits which were dictated by a child’s heritage. For instance, one painting has text at the bottom that declares a child’s, “proud nature and sharp wits of the Mulatto woman come from the White [male] and Black woman who produce her…” (Martínez, 233). In the language of the painting, these children were considered Spaniards, but less so because of their added traits. This differentiation was representative of a larger tension within Spanish colonial policies to both assimilate and differentiate Native Americans from their settlers. They wanted to integrate and ‘civilize’ these Natives— thus integrating them— yet also keep them separate so that they couldn’t adopt the same privileges as the Spaniards (Earle, 179). In summary, these paintings represent many of the tensions of Spanish colonialism, and how Spaniards struggled to understand race and gender within this new landscape.
These paintings also represented the Spaniards’ biggest fear— that their blood could be ‘corrupted’ by outside influences. For instance, blackness was viewed as a permanent stain on the family tree— a sin passed down through the Biblical story of Ham (Martinez, 235). These racial signifiers manifested themselves as traits which were dictated by a child’s heritage. For instance, one painting has text at the bottom that declares a child’s, “proud nature and sharp wits of the Mulatto woman come from the White [male] and Black woman who produce her…” (Martínez, 233). In the language of the painting, these children were considered Spaniards, but less so because of their added traits. This differentiation was representative of a larger tension within Spanish colonial policies to both assimilate and differentiate Native Americans from their settlers. They wanted to integrate and ‘civilize’ these Natives— thus integrating them— yet also keep them separate so that they couldn’t adopt the same privileges as the Spaniards (Earle, 179). In summary, these paintings represent many of the tensions of Spanish colonialism, and how Spaniards struggled to understand race and gender within this new landscape.
Creator
Juan Patricio Morlete Ruiz
Source
Ruiz, Juan Patricio Morlete. X. From Spaniard and Return Backwards, Hold Yourself Suspended in Mid Air (De Español Y Torna Atrás, Tente En El Aire) (Image 1 of 6). circa date QS:P571,+1760- -00T00:00:00Z/9,P1480,Q5727902 1760. Framed- 41 5/16 x 49 5/8 x 1 1/2 in. (104.9 x 125.98 x 3.81 cm); Unframed- 39 1/2 x 47 1/2 in. (100.3 3 x 120.65 cm). Los Angeles County Museum of Art. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:X._De_espanol_y_torna_atras,_tente_en_el_aire_(Casta_painting)_LACMA_M.2011.20.3_(1_of_6).jpg.
Maria Elena Martínez, “Changing Contours: ‘Limpieza de Sangre’ in the Age of Reason and Reform” in Genealogical Fictions: Limpieza de Sangre, Religion, and Gender in Colonial Mexico, (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2008), 227-264
Rebecca Earle, “Mutable Bodies in Spain and the Indies” in The Body of the Conquistador: Food, Race and the Colonial Experience in Spanish America, 1492-1700, (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2012), 187-216
Date
circa 1760
Contributor
Teddy Wolfe
Rights
Public Domain
Original Format
Painting
Physical Dimensions
Framed- 41 5/16 x 49 5/8 x 1 1/2 in. (104.9 x 125.98 x 3.81 cm); Unframed- 39 1/2 x 47 1/2 in. (100.3 3 x 120.65 cm)
Citation
Juan Patricio Morlete Ruiz, “Casta Painting,” HIST 139 - Early Modern Europe, accessed May 6, 2025, https://earlymoderneurope.hist.sites.carleton.edu/items/show/80.