“Portrait of Paz Pardo de Tavera”

This painting of a woman holding a rosary was painted by the famous Filipino artist, Juan Luna
and is believed to be cursed. The woman in the painting was initially identified as Juan Luna’s wife,
Maria de la Paz Pardo de Tavera, whom he married in December 8, 1886. Juan Luna was very fond of his
wife, but after the death of their infant daughter, he often accused his wife of having an affair. In a fit of
jealousy, Juan Luna killed his wife and mother-in-law in September 22, 1892. Luna was arrested and
charged with murder but was later acquitted on grounds of a crime of passion.
 The Curse of Juan Luna’s Portrait of A Lady

With that history, it was said that Maria de la Paz Pardo de Tavera’s soul possessed the painting.
Others believed it was cursed or haunted because Juan Luna was working on it when he killed
his wife and mother-in-law. The belief is, whoever comes to possess or own it will meet terrible
misfortunes. Portrait of a Lady is a dreamy, Impressionist rendering of a woman lounging in bed,
surrounded by the softest white sheets and awash in a kind of beatific light. The brushstrokes are
tender, almost delicate, enhancing the innocence in her expression.

But when you look closer, she seems to be posing after a sexual interlude, her skin flush pink,
her frothy night dress appearing to have slipped off a little, revealing her supple right breast. “It’s
a very Victorian concept,” says the art historian Ramon Villegas of the work which is said to
have been completed in Paris in 1890, “that contrast of seductiveness and the symbol of devotion
(rosary), a secret life with public piety.”

The curious thing, however, is that the lady in the portrait doesn’t look at all like Luna’s wife
who in photographs appears to have a skin color closer to brown than pearly white, with a
countenance one is tempted to call almost masculine. While some say the lady is Luna’s
favourite model, a Caucasian named Angela Duche, some art historians propose that the woman
in the painting is Luna’s idealized vision of his Spanish-Filipino mestiza wife, and the portrait
itself is a loving depiction of their sexual, if not marital, bliss.