Visual Activity

Visual Activity

MIXED RACES

These eighteenth-century paintings illustrate forms of racial mixture common in the sixteenth century. In the first painting, a Spanish man and an Indian woman have a mestizo son; in the fourth, a Spanish man and a woman of African descent have a mulatto son. Can you detect any meanings of racial categories in the clothing? Bob Schalkwijk/INAH.

READING THE IMAGE: What do these paintings reveal about social status in New Spain?

CONNECTIONS: How do the paintings illustrate the power the Spaniards exercised in their New World colonies? What were some other aspects of colonial society that demonstrated Spanish domination?