Ignacio Manuel Altamirano (1834–1893), a Mexican politician, writer, and journalist was born in Guerrero to parents of indigenous lineage. He received a scholarship to study at the Instituto Literario de la Capital del Estado de Mexico, Toluca. Within his lifetime, he founded various newspapers and magazines including: El Renacimiento, La República, El Correo de México, La Tribuna, and El Federalista. Altamirano also wrote several books including Clemencia (1869), La navidad en las montañas (1871), Antonia (1872), Beatriz (1873), Cuentos de invierno (1880), Rimas (1880), and El Zarco (1889). In addition to his literary and journalistic careers, he served on the Mexican Supreme Court as a public prosecutor, magistrate, and president. In his literature, criticism, and personal achievements, Altamirano represented the indigenous struggle for social standing and efforts toward the political, social, and cultural consolidation of the Mexican national identity. "La pintura histórica en México," published in El Artista in 1874, reflects Altamirano’s interest in the development of Mexican nationalist artistic, literary, and cultural movements that parallel the independence and achievement of the Mexican nation.