The Daughters of Governor Ramón de Castro by José Campeche (Interpretation and Analysis)

The Daughters of Governor Ramón de Castro
Source: Google Cultural Institute

Yesterday, I mentioned the work of José Campeche in my post about Francisco Oller’s Still Life With Plantains and Bananas. I briefly discussed his work in that post, but I wanted to talk about in more detail. So, today, we’re going to be looking at Campeche’s painting, The Daughters of Governor Ramón de Castro. As the title suggests, the painting is a portrait of the two daughters of Ramón de Castro, who was the governor of Puerto Rico at that time.

Campeche is an interesting figure in art history. He was the first Puerto Rican artist to be recognized by art historians and he is widely recognized to be one of the most significant and famous artists from the island. Campeche was the son of a freed slave, who was also a restorer and painter of religious statues. He received formal artistic training from a former Spanish court painter, and later became a popular portrait artist among elite Puerto Ricans.

Campeche’s work is particularly interesting to me because his style is so distinctly European, which is patently odd when discussing the work of an artist of the Caribbean. He is usually considered to be a member of the Rococo movement, a highly ornate, elaborate style that can be generally characterized as being “over the top.” His personal style was shaped by his education (as I noted above, he was trained by a painter from Spain), but, more importantly, by the social pressures of colonization.

An art historian unfamiliar with Campeche’s work might reasonably guess that The Daughters of Governor Ramón de Castro was the work of a Spanish, French, or even English painter. The two children are stereotypically European in appearance, are dressed in European clothing, and are positioned in front of a painting displaying a European landscape. One of the girls even holds a bunch of roses, a plant that is not native to the Americas and is rarely grown in the Caribbean.

At the time, being associated with Europe and European styles would have been extremely desirable to Puerto Rican elites. Puerto Rico was a Spanish colony until 1898, thus being linked with Spain would have been a status symbol and a sign of power. Given this context, it is hardly surprising that Campeche’s work is so distinctly European. Obviously, It would have been necessary for Campeche to produce work that was attractive to patrons in order to secure his own economic success.

As I noted above, Campeche’s style was shaped by the pressures of colonization. While this would normally be understood to be a negative thing, I do think it’s important to acknowledge what Campeche represents as an artist. Colonization, as a system, necessarily includes strict segregation and social stratification to maintain the power of the colonizer. However, the fact that the son of a former slave could rise to a position of such importance and significance is a testament to the ability of oppressed peoples to create meaning in colonial societies. Although colonizers seek to force colonized people to assimilate, the end result is usually a mixing of cultures, with colonized peoples refashioning the culture of their colonizers to fit their own worldview.

In the case of Campeche, I believe it’s important to recognize his work as part of the birth of Puerto Rico’s rich and vital modern culture.

Disclaimer: I’m not an art historian or an expert on this topic. The above is my opinion, based on my interpretation of my foreknowledge of art and history. If I’ve done any additional research, I’ll note it above.