Painted in Mexico, 1700-1790

The book examines 18th-century Mexican painting as a distinct and highly productive artistic field.

It offers a reassessment of a period marked by major stylistic changes, new iconographies, and close connections with transatlantic artistic developments. The volume brings together extensive new research and newly commissioned photography, including works that had not previously been published.

The focus lies on the diversity of Mexican painting in the 18th century. Artists produced large-scale paintings for sacristies, choirs, staircases, cloisters, and university halls, while also working on portraits, casta paintings, folding screens, and devotional images. This range shows the technical and conceptual versatility of painters active in the viceroyalty.

The essays address questions of tradition and innovation, the circulation of images within and beyond New Spain, the political function of painting, and the role of ornament. More than 130 catalogue entries provide detailed interpretations of individual works.