A look at Miguel Cabrera’s set of casta paintings

Joseph Fronek, senior paintings conservator and head of paintings conservation, sits with curator Ilona Katzew at LACMA, where one of the 16 scroll casta paintings by 18th century Mexican artist Miguel Cabrera was restored. (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

April 1, 2015 4 AM PT

Miguel Cabrera made one set of 16 casta paintings. Eight are housed in a Madrid museum, five in a private collection in Monterrey, Mexico, one in the Multicultural Music and Art Foundation of Northridge, one is missing, and one has been acquired by LACMA.

A closer look at Miguel Cabrera’s “From Spaniard and Morisca, Albino,” which was stored for a time under the owner’s couch. (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

A view of several of the restoration tools used on the scroll painting at LACMA. Miguel Cabrera’s paintings explore the Enlightenment Age theme of miscegenation, or interracial marriage, among Indians, Spaniards and Africans. (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

One of the 16 casta paintings in private collections

This Cabrera casta was shown at LACMA in 2007 in “The Arts in Latin America: 1492-1820.” An albino mother caresses the face of her Moorish North African daughter, the reverse of what is shown in the museum’s newly acquired masterpiece. (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)