Linati

Focus of These Lectures

• Shift from high-level political history ➜ granular look at daily life in Mexico ca. 1825-1850.
• Two primary lenses:
  • Works of Italian lithographer Claudio Linati (first European to mass-circulate Mexican images).
  • A later “road-trip” through mid-century landscape paintings (introduced but not yet covered).

Claudio Linati (1790-1832)

• Italian, studied under Jacques-Louis David in France; fought with Napoleonic army (1814 Spain campaign).
• Anti-clerical, republican, “romantic revolutionary.”
• Fled Spain ­➜ arrived Mexico 1825; introduced lithography to the new republic.
• Exiled after 2 yrs → Brussels → published 48-plate album: Civil, Religious & Military Costumes of Mexico (1828).
  • First widely distributed visual record of Mexicans in Europe.
  • Plates paired with descriptive, often ethnocentric text.
• Returned to Mexico (Tampico) 1832; died of fever at age 42.
• Influence:
  • Popularized Mexican “social types.”
  • Inspired by indigenous wax figurines sold in Mexico City.
  • Mexican artists later adopt European techniques to depict themselves (e.g., Ariero & Ranchero plates).

Heroes of Independence as Fashion Icons

• Trio plate: Miguel Hidalgo (center), José María Morelos (right), Guadalupe Victoria (left).
  • Hidalgo supposedly copied from his wax death mask; wears ornate calsoneras (bell-bottom riding trousers) once linked to horsemen but adopted as insurgent symbol.
  • Morelos: clergy’s deep social reach ➜ Spain tortured rebellious priests.
  • Victoria: hybrid Spanish–French uniform reflects militarized society after decade-long war (1810-1821).
• Broader point: war permeated civilian dress; officers ran government → military fashions everywhere.

Gambling & Popular Amusements

• Europeans constantly remarked on Mexican love of gaming.
  • Linati: $6,000,000\,\text{CHF}$ gambled yearly.
  • Veracruz state banned gambling; clandestine street “monty” scenes feature look-outs warning of police.
• Lotteries widespread; even more popular: cockfights (gallos).
  • Bullfighting restricted → cockfighting fills void until late-19th-c. deregulation.
  • Cross-class spectacle: soldiers, priests, women, children all present.
  • Foreground figure with long hair + male outfit possibly an early depiction of cross-dressing.

Key Urban Social Types

1. Public Scribe (El Escribiente Público)

• Operates on the Zócalo (National Palace visible).
• Dresses in European style; shades himself with a petate (reed mat used for sleeping, picnics, tarps).
• Literacy ≈ $5\%$ → scribes essential; they know “secrets of many relationships.”

2. Water Carrier (El Aguador)

• Only group Linati saw wearing caps (prototype baseball caps).
• Hauls $\approx50\,\text{lb}$ clay pots from fountains ➜ crucial to city’s water supply.

3. Butcher (El Carnicero)

• Mobile pork seller on burro; wraps bloody serape, smokes cigarettes.
• Claims Mexicans prefer riding to walking.
• Linati derides Mexican diet as inferior (Euro-centric bias); notes pork > beef, dishes mainly guisados (stews).

4. Pulque Vendor (El Pulquero)

• Carries mildly alcoholic pulque in cured pig-skin bladders (imparts distinctive “funk”).
• Highlights Mexican skill in goat/deer leatherwork.
• Marketplace diversity: shoes, cloth, glassware, beef, veggies, butter, grease, cigarettes, rosaries, candles, duck.

5. Porter & Blind Beggar

• Linati blames Church’s almsgiving culture for widespread panhandling; cites disease/deformity prevalence.

6. Street Vendors & Lepero (Homeless Man)

• Human portage legacy (pre-horse traditions): loads balanced on head/back; containers signal goods (chickens, sweets, etc.).
• Lepero: mixed race, wrapped in serape, sleeps in church corners; subsists on tortilla + chile; viewed by Linati as idle yet easily exploited by despots.

Foodways: Corn & Tortillas

• Tortilleras kneel over metate (grinding slab) → bake on comal.
• Essential kitchen triad: metate, comal, molcajete (salsa mortar).
• Sexualized artistic trope: grinding posture + frequent bare breast (likely male gaze, not everyday reality).

Indigenous Female Servant (Sirvienta Indígena)

• Wears huipil (Maya) indicating ethnic identity.
• Described as loyal/sweet yet “limited intelligence” → reflects colonial stereotypes.

Female Dress & Veiling

• Veils/shawls commonplace (Muslim-Iberian legacy).
• Tehuana attire (Isthmus of Tehuantepec): sheer veil + floral headdress (later enlarged; famous via Frida Kahlo).

Race & Stereotyping in Linati’s Text

• Claims pulque turns “sweet/timid” Indians violent (plate of two indigenous women fighting with babies on backs).
• Disturbing scene: freed Black man from Alvarado beating wife while lounging in hammock.
  • Linati = abolitionist yet reproduces racist tropes (laziness, violence, uncultivated land).
• Veracruz Costeños painted as colorful, comic, physically superior laborers → echoes “superhuman strength” stereotype.

Military Types

• Soldiers: “ignorant, little intelligence” yet central to new citizenship ideal.
• Uniforms mainly French-styled; black Veracruz civil guard in white/red noted for climate-driven light dress; yellow-fever immunity deterred invaders.

Rural & Equestrian Culture

• Poor infrastructure: few navigable rivers/canals → reliance on horse; road quality low.
• Upper-class couple riding (woman side-saddle) demonstrates skill + gender norms; side-saddle more precarious ➜ greater riding feat.
• Mounted Creole Lassoing Spaniards action plate:
  • Rope = ranch implement + revolutionary weapon.
  • Celebrates ranchero as nationalist hero; Linati hails Mexican cavalry’s superiority.

Pulque Production Explained

1. Agave (maguey) base cut to form natural basin.
2. Sap (aguamiel) collects; siphoned via gourd or reed (often mouth-suctioned) into bucket.
3. Ferments $\approx24{-}48\,\text{h}$ ➜ viscous, $\sim4{-}6\%$ alcohol.
4. Spoils quickly → impossible to can or ship long distance.

• Agave also yields fiber (henequén), rope, paper.

Later Mexican Self-Representation

• Post-Linati, locally trained artists portray their own types:
  • Ariero (muleteer): straw hat, leather chaps, cropped bolero jacket.
  • Ranchero: flat-brim sombrero, bell-bottom calsoneras.
  • Chinaco (elite horseman) in ornate silver-studded leather; botonadura row of silver buttons down thigh; horse tack equally elaborate.
  • Domestic patio scenes include servant at lavadero (washing stone) or tortillera.

Ethical / Interpretive Takeaways

• Linati’s album invaluable primary source yet riddled with Euro-centric, racist, and sexist judgments.
• Reveals contemporary European fascination with “exotic” Mexico and role of visual culture in shaping stereotypes abroad.
• Highlights intersections of race, class, gender, religion, and economics in post-independence society.
• Provides baseline for comparing later Mexican self-imagery and evolving national identity.

Numeric & Technical References

• Literacy in Mexico City: $\approx5\%$
• Water carried per trip: $50\,\text{lb}$ pots.
• Annual gambling (Linati’s claim): $6{,}000{,}000\,\text{CHF}$.
• Pulque alcohol content: $4{-}6\%$ (contextual modern estimate).

Connections to Broader Course Themes

• Complements earlier political lectures by illustrating how wars of independence translated into clothing, labor, and leisure.
• Sets stage for upcoming landscape “road-trip” to observe infrastructure & regional diversity.
• Demonstrates continuity of pre-Hispanic practices (human portage, maize centrality) within modern republican framework.
• Provides case study for analyzing foreign observers’ biases and their impact on global perceptions of Latin America.