Final answer:
Casta paintings are a genre of art from 18th-century Spanish America, capturing the racial and socio-economic categories in a colonial society marked by ethnic diversity. They depicted mixed-race families wearing attire indicative of their social positions, reinforcing the colonial caste hierarchy. These paintings provided insight into historical attitudes towards race and social status and were often used by the Criollos to establish their social rank.
Step-by-step explanation:
Casta paintings were a distinctive form of portraiture that emerged in the 18th-century Spanish colonies in the Americas. They aimed to depict the complex socio-racial hierarchy that had developed due to the mixing of various ethnic groups. These paintings typically showed families consisting of parents from different racial backgrounds and their children, illustrating the racial categorization in the colonies. The paintings also conveyed socioeconomic status and occupation, often influenced by the subjects' racial categorization, with imagery and labels that could be both descriptive and judgmental.
Renowned for such works, artist Miguel Cabrera created a casta painting showing a Spanish father, a Mestiza mother, and their Castiza daughter, each dressed in accordance with their social standing. The hierarchical arrangement was another key aspect of these paintings, as they often portrayed racial purity favorably and depicted a spectrum from 'pure' Spaniards to other mixed groups, ending with unconverted Indigenous people. Enlightenment ideas further spurred the creation of such paintings, as they were tied to a quest to rationalize human diversity.