uh-oh, it's the casta paintings

[eufrenio]

recluse said:

Eufrenio,

I especially wonder about the anthropological realism. At first I was focusing too much on the children which caused me to find the paintings useless because children all look alpine ( ).

But I suppose as all the paintings are viewed, the viewer gets a chance to see all the racial variations by looking at the parents. In spite of that, how accurate is it? Can even a painter's eye consistently distguish between a chamizo and a castizo?

Who started the idea of the "throwback" or "torna atras?" Was it the British, Spanish, French, Dutch? How did they all come up with these similar ideas?

If you look at the adults, you can tell the painter was not very familiar with non-European phenotypes.
I suppose a skilled observer could tell the difference between between a triracial individual and a Black-Indian mix. South americans, and particularly Brazilians, are very good at this.
I don´t know where the idea of "throwback" came from.
It seems pretty old.
Take a look here:
www.backintyme.com/
and scroll down to "links of published essays". I seem to remember author Frank Sweet wrote about it.
In any case, I´m sure you´ll enjoy the essays.

[recluse]

Eufrenio,

I read Sweet's "Brief History of the Color Line" which was pretty good. I'd always wondered about how American creoles had come to be so prominent once. Thanks for the recommendation.

[murphee]

Interesting paintings

[recluse]

murphee said:

Interesting paintings

You said it. I wonder if there was anything like them in British-America? Somehow I doubt it.