Painting in Latin America, 1550-1820: From Conquest to Independence surveys the diverse styles, subjects, and iconography of painting in Latin America between the 16th and 19th centuries. While European art forms were widely disseminated, copied, and adapted throughout Latin America, colonial painting is not a derivative extension of Europe. The ongoing debate over what to call it--mestizo, hybrid, creole, indo-hispanic, tequitqui--testifies to a fundamental yet unresolved question of identity.

Comparing and contrasting the Viceroyalties of New Spain,...