While the

Casta () is a term which means "Lineage (anthropology), lineage" in Spanish and Portuguese and has historically been used as a racial and social identifier. In the context of the Spanish America, Spanish Empire in the Americas, the term also refer ...

system was flourishing in

New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( ; Nahuatl: ''Yankwik Kaxtillan Birreiyotl''), originally the Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain. It was one of several ...

(

Colonial Mexico Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French colonial architecture * Spanish colonial architecture Automobiles * C ...

) (1519-1821), a painters'

guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular territory. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradespeople belonging to a professional association. They so ...

emerged in order to classify the different ‘races’. The painters' guild in New Spain paralleled the structure, purpose, and mobility of the Casta system they were representing.

Structure

The structure of the guild was hierarchical, similar to the system they were paid to represent. The master would take on an ‘apprentice’ who would work for room and board until he or she was considered skilled enough to become an independent painter. As Moriuchi states "Working within a guild system, Mexican artists frequently copied one another, and several compositions, forms, and themes were repeated among various identified and anonymous artists, establishing basic conventions foundational to any genre" (15). Therefore, despite the multitude of painters responsible for visually representing race in the Casta paintings, the images themselves seem similar enough to belong to a single artist. Change and innovation was highly criticized and the paintings, thus, maintained a common style and portrayal.

Purpose

One of the main reasons that innovation was frowned upon in the Casta painters' guild was due to the very purpose of the Casta system. The system was, in part, created to try and impose an order on a very messy reality – the mixing of ‘races’ between the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

, indigenous, and African peoples of

. Therefore, the guild had specific rules for how the representations of races were to be depicted and in what way. The order in the guild therefore promoted the order of the system. Additionally, unskilled artists were required to be tested in order to paint specific pieces. These lesser skilled artists were referred to as ‘Indians’ regardless of their own personal racial identification. This exemplifies how race was used as a categorizing tool that didn't necessarily relate to the reality on the ground.

Mobility and opportunity

The guild also had specific restrictions on who and how an individual could move up in the hierarchy of the guild. Strict tests were required before an individual could move up a position in the guild. However, similarly in the Casta system itself, there was corruption in the guild which allowed individuals to pay for a higher position even if the skill requirements had not been met.

References

{{reflist Guilds New Spain Painting Defunct arts organizations Latin American caste system