(b Mexico City, 1836; d Mexico City, 1868). Mexican illustrator and printmaker. Although a portrait by him of his music teacher Pedro Picasso was accepted into the Academy’s exhibition of 1855, his work as an illustrator did not take an academic route. He became involved with liberal politics at the close of the Guerra de los Tres Años in 1861 and was the first caricaturist on the bi-weekly review La Orquesta, which was founded in that year. Escalante worked for the magazine until his death in 1868, producing 514 lithographs that provide a detailed vision of Mexico’s history through his critical eyes; he dealt most frequently with foreign invasions and the relationship between the Church and state. Working largely for an illiterate public, he used his caricatures to draw attention to some of the problems that oppressed his fellow countrymen. He also produced independent albums of lithographs such as National glories (Glorias nacionales), which was sponsored by Vicente Riva Palacio (1832–96), the director of La Orquesta. He died in a streetcar accident at the age of only 32.