The emergence of painting in South America was largely due to Italian and Flemish artists who set upworkshops in the New World in the 16th and early 17th centuries. Subsequently, in the first half of the 17th century, most of the artistic output was undertaken by Spanish painters, who dominated the region until they started to become scarce. At that time the art being produced had not yet reached the point of forming its own independent style, with a “mestizo” identity. Rather, being artists of Western origin, the predominant artistic trends were European ones.