Final answer:
Casta paintings from the 18th century Spanish America were visual representations of the social and racial hierarchy, showing families of mixed races with inscriptions indicating their status. They reinforced the societal norms of the time, linking 'purity' of blood to one's social status.
Step-by-step explanation:
Casta paintings from colonial Spanish America were complex visual documents that illustrated the social hierarchy based on racial mixing during the 18th century. These paintings, consisting of sets that often included sixteen canvases, depicted families of mixed heritage, indicating parents of different races and their children. The textual inscriptions and numbers on these paintings created a hierarchical ranking of these mixed-race families, from those considered pure to those of mixed or indigenous descent.
The system, as Ilona Katzew explains, was meant to illuminate the Spanish colonial view that certain racial mixtures were deemed more favorable, reinforcing the social and class structures within the Viceroyalty of New Spain. Notably, Spaniards and creoles saw this as a way to rationalize their social power, and often Criollos commissioned these paintings to assert their status over the peninsular Spaniards, despite suppressive efforts such as taxation and limited government employment. Casta paintings thus linked the purity of blood to socioeconomic status.
Miguel Cabrera, a renowned artist of this genre, produced a notable set of paintings that exemplified this practice. The subjects were labeled just as the fruit might be in certain casta paintings by Andres de Isla, with an emphasis on harmony or racial stereotypes depending on the work and artist.