Jose Francisco Xavier de Salazar y Mendoza is a portraitist of colonial Mexico. He is one of the most significant professional portrait painter who was active in colonial Louisiana and New Orleans. Salazars paintings belong to the late stage Baroque movement and the Rococo tradition. The Portrait of the Montegut family is one of his greatest works, characterized by his typical style of making the background a dark neutral hue. The skin tone is luminous and the refined costume and fabrics along with the elegant poses indicate symbolically that the Montegut family belongs to the elite aristocratic class. The elongated faces and hands also showcase the regional manneristic tendencies explored by the painter. Art historians also note similarities between his dramatic lighting and the portrait traditions later associated with Francisco Goya. He is regarded as a crucial visual chronicler of the 18th century Creole society and occupies a unique position in Art history as a significant displayer of the Spanish imperial culture.

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