Spoliarium – Juan Luna

The painting features a glimpse of Roman history centered on the bloody carnage brought by gladiatorial matches.
Spoliarium is a Latin word referring to the basement of the Roman Colosseum where the fallen and dying gladiators
are dumped and devoid of their worldly possessions.

At the center of Luna’s painting are fallen gladiators being dragged by Roman soldiers. On the left, spectators
ardently await their chance to strip off the combatants of their metal helmets and other armory. In contrast with
the charged emotions featured on the left, the right side meanwhile presents a somber mood. An old man carries a
torch perhaps searching for his son while a woman weeps the death of her loved one.

The Spoliarium is the most valuable oil-on-canvas painting by Juan Luna, a Filipino educated at the Academia de
Dibujo y Pintura (Philippines) and at the Academia de San Fernando in Madrid, Spain. With a size of 4.22 meters x
7.675 meters, it is the largest painting in the Philippines. A historical painting, it was made by Luna in 1884 as an
entry to the prestigious Exposicion de Bellas Artes (Madrid Art Exposition, May 1884) and eventually won for him
the First Gold Medal.

The Spoliarium (often misspelled Spolarium) is a painting by Filipino painter Juan Luna. The painting was submitted
by Luna to the Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes in 1884 in Madrid, where it garnered the first gold medal (out of
three). In 1886, it was sold to the Diputación Provincial de Barcelona for 20,000 pesetas. It currently hangs in the
main gallery at the ground floor of the National Museum of Fine Arts in Manila, and is the first work of art that
greets visitors upon entry into the museum. The picture recreates a despoiling scene in a Roman circus where dead
gladiators are stripped of weapons and garments.

Luna, working on canvas, spent eight months completing the painting which depicts dying gladiators. Filipino
historian Ambeth Ocampo writes, "...the fact remains that when Luna and Félix Resurrección Hidalgo won the top
awards in the Madrid Exposition of 1884, they proved to the world that indios could, despite their supposed
barbarian race, paint better than the Spaniards who colonized them."

Ryan Cayabyab composed the opera Spoliarium, which chronicles the creation of the eponymous painting and Juan
Luna's trial for the murder of his wife. Soprano Fides Cuyugan-Asensio wrote the libretto. A recorded version was
released for commercial distribution in 2006.

Popular Filipino rock band Eraserheads released a single entitled Spolarium from their album Sticker Happy,
penned by Ely Buendia.

The painting is also mentioned by the poet Ma. Luisa Aguilar Igloria in her collection, Juan Luna's Revolver, and by
the novelist Miguel Syjuco in his novel Ilustrado.

In the 2015 historical film Heneral Luna, a scene where soldiers drag the mutilated corpses of Antonio Luna and
Paco Roman while shocked onlookers watch from a staircase closely mirrors the Spoliarium. Antonio Luna is the
younger brother of Juan Luna.
Simbahon, Shiela Mae S.
12- HUMSS A
Luksong-Tinik (Jumping over
Thorns)
Artist: Vicente Manansala (1973)
Genre: History painting
Contemporary Arts in the Philippines
Moro- Moro Zarzuela
(Baler, Aurora)
Contemporary Arts from our Region
A popular game in the Philippines. It
is originated in Cabanatuan city,
Philippines, played by two teams with
equal numbers of players. Each team
designates a leader, the nanay
(mother), while the rest of the players
are called anak (children). The players
chosen to be nanay are usually the
ones who can jump the highest. The
game involves players sitting on the
ground and other players jumping
over parts of their body.
Basically you just jump over people's
feet which is meant to be the tinik
which one foot/hand of the 2 players
sitting on the ground will be added
after all players have jumped the 1st
round.
The earliest known form of
organized theatre is the comedia,
or moro-moro, created by Spanish
priests. In 1637 a play was written
to dramatize the recent capture by
a Christian Filipino army of an
Islamic stronghold. It was so
popular that other plays were
written and staged as folk dramas
in Christianized villages
throughout the Philippines.