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In this article we suggest using various analytical and bibliografical elements to read the "paintings" in the book of José Antonio Aponte, who was accused and condemned for conspiracy in Havanna (1812) and which are described in the judicial records of the "conspiracy". We emphasize three essential aspects with which to understand this Book of Paintings (which has since disappeared): the social and artistic context in which the book was produced and used as a political and pedagical tool; the critical debate with the Naturalist episteme of "raciology" that the book initiates; and its recovery of the knowledge of the western Ethiopians to celebrate Africa's future in universal history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]