En defensa de la pintura. Ciudad de México, 1753

Abstract

Following an introduction on Mexican Painting Academies preceding San Carlos, the author examines the problems arising from the liberality, ingenuity and nobility of painting. She also analyzes a letter signed and sent by leading painters and engravers of the viceregal capital city, headed by José de Ibarra y Baltasar Troncoso y Sotomayor to the Viceroy, evaluating the value of pictorial work and the ethnic quality of its exponents. This document was intended to obtain protection from the authorities regarding art sales, tax exemption and the classification of their work on a level with the liberal and scientific arts, in which intellectual labors took precedence over their mechanical counterparts. Reference is made to the practice of science and the arts in Greece and Rome by noting that painting was the pursuit of the nobility, as well as the entertainment of kings, gentlemen and the clergy. This work also mentions the concern of painters and engravers regarding the quality of drawing used to produce artistic works. The author concludes by discussing the notion upheld by artists who conceived their work as a creative process based on intellectual reflection.