Pleito de la suegra con su yerno (Fight of the Mother-in-Law With Her Son-in-Law) n.d.

Manuel Manilla made this zinc engraving, “Fight of the Mother-in-Law With Her Son-in-Law,” in Mexico, in the late 19th century. Manilla was a printmaker who worked for the publisher Antonio Vanegas Arroyo, illustrating broadsides and chapbooks sold to a popular audience. This image offers a window into Mexican society at the time. It depicts a common trope of domestic discord. On one side verses present a heated exchange between the mother-in-law and son-in-law. On the other, the main illustration depicts a heated confrontation. The mother-in-law raises a heavy beam above her head, ready to strike her son-in-law. Images like this one offer valuable insights to social historians. Through close attention to the visual codes employed, we can unpack cultural attitudes toward family, gender, and class in late 19th-century Mexico. We might consult archives of popular literature from the period, or study the biographies and business records of publishers like Vanegas Arroyo. These sources can reveal the social conditions that shaped artistic production and consumption at the time.