This review was written for the Mexican minister of public works by Mexican diplomat Pedro Escandón, president of the Mexican commission for the 1855 Universal Exposition of Products of Agriculture, Industry, and Fine Arts in Paris. In this essay, Escandón discusses the works of art sent to the jury for the Universal Exposition from France, Germany, England, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Mexico, and other countries. He evaluates the characteristic merits and shortcomings of the artistic production of each country, asserting that the French, including artists Jean-Auguste-Dominique-Ingres and Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix, exemplify the finest submissions to the Exposition, and are the heirs of the legacy of the Renaissance masters. Escandón critiques the work of Juan Cordero, the only Mexican painter with an entry in the 1885 Universal Exposition, for his emulation of the Mannerist Italian school of painting, instead of the more original French painters. He further asserts that Mujer Adultera by Cordero, whichdoes not address the uniquely Latin American subject matter, is lacking not only in perspective, but also in originality. Escandon declares that Mujer Adultera, unlike Cordero’s Cristobal Colon, lacks New World specificity in its color and landscape, and could therefore pass for the work of a European painter, but not for that of an American artist. Escandón praises La Majada de indios peruanos by Don Ignacio Merino, and El Alfarero by Francisco Laso for their distinctly American subject matter. However, Escandón also emphasizes the importance of having a foundation in European [precedents], recommending that the Mexican painters of the Academia de San Carlos visit Europe and study paintings in France, Italy, Spain, and Germany. He concludes that artists in the Spanish tradition should accept their inferiority without becoming discouraged, as the quality of their art does not reflect on the spirit and intelligence of American painters.