Attributed to Jose Francisco Xavier de Salazar y Mendoza (Mexico, mid-1700's-1802, active New Orleans, c. 1782-1802), "Don Antonio Mendez and his Family", oil on canvas laid on board, unsigned, 36 in. x 49 in, in an antique giltwood frame. E50000-70000 Provenance: Descended in the family of the sitters to the present owner. Note: A native of Havana, Cuba, Don Antonio Mendez (1750-1829) arrived in New Orleans upon accepting the position of Procurer de Roy (Attorney General) for the Spanish Colonial government of Louisiana. Mendez married the Louisianian Donna Feliciana Ducre on March 25th, 1790 in the St. Louis Cathedral, officiated by Pere Antoine de Sedilla. Don Antonio and Donna Mendez purchased Magnolia Plantation in St. Bernard Parish and had six children. Their son Antoine Luis Mendez was a distinguished soldier who served in the Mexican American War under General Zachary Taylor, and in the Confederate Army. The family lineage of Don Antonio Mendez is extensive and includes the Olivier, Sarpy Montagnet, and D'Aguin families. In 1791Antonio Mendez purchased Magnolia Plantation from Manuel Solis, a Spaniard who emigrated from Santo Domingo after the slave revolts. The plantation included a small wooden mill for distilling sugar that Solis had shipped from Cuba and sugar cane fields. During the mid eighteenth century, the Jesuits had successfully planted sugar cane but after several attempts could not successfully granulate sugar. Solis had no luck with his experimentations with refining sugar cane, but he did produce rum of indifferent quality called "Taffia" which he sold at market. Mendez contacted and hired Antoine Morin, an experienced Cuban sugar maker. According to family tradition, Mendez with Morin's expertise successfully produced only a small quantity of granulated sugar. In 1794 Etienne De Bore developed a process that refined sugar in large enough quantity to significantly impact the Louisiana's economy and future. The artist Jos‚ Francisco Xavier de Salazar y Mendoza immigrated from Merida on the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico to New Orleans around 1782. Already an accomplished artist, Salazar received numerous portrait commissions from prominent families and community leaders of Spanish Colonial Louisiana. The impressive group portrait of "Don Antonio Mendez and His Family" has the upright postures, delicate handling of the lace and inclusion of a bird and basket of berries that are characteristic of Salazar's portraits. Ref: "History of Sugar Cane in Louisiana", Louisiana Historical Quarterly, June 30, 1897, Chapter II of Vol. 21, No. 3, pp. 5-10; and Poesch, Jessie, The Art of the Old South: Paintings, Sculpture, Architecture & The Products of Craftsmen, 1560-1860, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1983, p. 164.