Artwork offers a visual insight into the culture in the Americas during the time of colonization. The casta paintings provide the best evidence to represent the melting pot of human cultures in the Americas during the early days of settlement. The 15th panel in the 1763 Caste Painting Series by Miguel Cabrera; De Mestizo y d 'India is an oil on canvas painting which depicts a mixed race family; a Mestizo man, an Indian woman and their two children, whom the caste system labels as “Coyotes”. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, the Spanish word “mestizo” refers to a man of European and Native American origin. Cabrera’s casta painting collection emphasizes the cultural and social differences present in Mexico during the colonial period.
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The family is wearing tattered clothing which indicates that they are a part of a lower social class in the Mexican caste system. The man is holding a basket of vegetables, which indicates to me that he has just returned from working in the fields. The Mestizo man is tethered to a donkey which is carrying the eldest child on its back. The woman is looking at the man with admiration, or perhaps excitement for his return. The youngest child, swaddled in a blanket and hanging on the woman’s back; is wearing an Indian headdress. The headdress symbolizes the woman’s pride for her Indian culture. The face of the eldest child is similar in symmetry to the face of the father, while the younger child more favors the …show more content…
In my own observations of the casta paintings by this artist, it appears that the higher ranked social classes have a brighter intensity of color with more red and white hues while the depictions of the less fortunate seem darker and less colorful. In De Mestizo y d 'India the emphasis of color is on the darker side of the color wheel; using secondary colors with hues of orange, dark blue and brown. The proportions between the figures in the portrait relate well with one another. The man’s body is substantially larger than that of the woman and children. Cabrera uses the principle of symmetrical balance to provide the viewer with a feeling of stability and unity. All parts of the work seem to flow together appropriately. The main focal point of the portrait is the Mestizo man in the forefront. The movement between the different focal areas of the painting allows the viewer’s eyes to move from the father, up to the eldest child and down to the Indian woman and her
The family is wearing tattered clothing which indicates that they are a part of a lower social class in the Mexican caste system. The man is holding a basket of vegetables, which indicates to me that he has just returned from working in the fields. The Mestizo man is tethered to a donkey which is carrying the eldest child on its back. The woman is looking at the man with admiration, or perhaps excitement for his return. The youngest child, swaddled in a blanket and hanging on the woman’s back; is wearing an Indian headdress. The headdress symbolizes the woman’s pride for her Indian culture. The face of the eldest child is similar in symmetry to the face of the father, while the younger child more favors the …show more content…
In my own observations of the casta paintings by this artist, it appears that the higher ranked social classes have a brighter intensity of color with more red and white hues while the depictions of the less fortunate seem darker and less colorful. In De Mestizo y d 'India the emphasis of color is on the darker side of the color wheel; using secondary colors with hues of orange, dark blue and brown. The proportions between the figures in the portrait relate well with one another. The man’s body is substantially larger than that of the woman and children. Cabrera uses the principle of symmetrical balance to provide the viewer with a feeling of stability and unity. All parts of the work seem to flow together appropriately. The main focal point of the portrait is the Mestizo man in the forefront. The movement between the different focal areas of the painting allows the viewer’s eyes to move from the father, up to the eldest child and down to the Indian woman and her