Final answer:
Whites held a monopoly over images of beauty and art in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries through the 'Aryanization' of Christ, prioritizing English goods as a status symbol, and valuing light skin as beauty standard. The portrait culture exalted European features, while casta paintings reinforced racial hierarchies.
Step-by-step explanation:
The virtual monopoly whites had over the dominant images of beauty, genius, and art during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries is evident through several examples. One example is the widespread alteration of Jesus Christ's portrayed ethnicity in Western art, transitioning from a Semitic figure to a representation that favored Aryan features, avoiding associations with blackness or darkness. A second instance can be seen in the cultural associations of English goods with high status in 18th century America, wherein even the simplest English manufactured goods were seen as marks of civility, influencing the works of early American artists.
Another manifestation of this monopoly is the Elizabethan era beauty standards where pale, light skin was highly valued, symbolizing a social status detached from outdoor labor or servitude, thus marginalizing darker skin tones. The prevalence of portraits of European nobility and the secularization of beauty standards in colonial Latin America reinforced racial and class hierarchies predicated on European features and fashion. Lastly, the idealized portrayals in casta paintings from the Spanish colonies, which categorized society based on racial mixing and skin color, reflected and perpetuated a European-centric view of beauty and social worth.