Juan Luna

 Filipino Greatest Painter

 Juan Luna De San Pedro Y. Novicio Ancheta (October 24, 1857 – December 7, 1899), better known as Juan Luna
was a Filipino painter, sculptor and a political activist of the Philippine Revolution during the late 19th century. He
became one of the first recognized Philippine artists.
 His winning the gold medalin the 1884 Madrid Exposition of Fine Arts, along with the silver win of fellow Filipino
painter Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo, prompted a celebration which was a major highlight in the memoirs of
members of the Propaganda Movement, with the fellow Ilustrados toasting to the two painters’ good health and
to the brotherhood between Spain and the Philippines.
 Regarded for work done in the manner of the Spanish, Italian and French academies of his time, Luna painted
literary and historical scenes, some with an underscore of political commentary. His allegorical works were
inspired with classical balance, and often showed figures in theatrical poses.
o On December4, 1886, Luna married Maria De La Paz Pardo De Tavera, a sister of his friend
Felix and Trinidad Pardo De Tavera. The couple traveled to Venice and Rome and settled in
Paris. They had one son, whom they named Andres, and a daughter, Maria De La Paz,
nicknamed Bibi, whom died in infancy.
o Luna was fond of his wife. However, the jealous Luna frequently accused Paz of having an
affair with a certain Monsieur Dussaq. Finally in a fit of jealousy, he killed his wife and
mother-in-law, Felix, on September 22,1892. He was arrested and murder charges were
filed against him.
o Luna was acquitted of charges on February 8, 1893, on the grounds of a crime of passion. Temporary
Insanity; the “unwritten law” at the time forgave men for killing unfaithful wives. He was ordered to
pay the Pardo De Taveras a sum of one thousand six hundred fifty francs for postage, in addition to the
one franc of claims for damage (“dommages-interets”). Five days later, Luna went to madrid with his
brother, Antonio Luna, and his son, Andres.
o In 1894 Luna moved back to the Philippines and traveled to Japan in 1896, returning during the
Philippine Revolution of the Cry of Balintawak. On September 16, 1896, he and his brother Antonio Luna
were arrested by Spanish authorities for being involved with the Katipunan rebel army.
o Despite his imprisonment, Luna was still able to produce a work of art which he gave to a visiting priest.
He was pardoned by the Spanish courts on May 27, 1897 and was released from prison and he traveled
back to Spain in July.
o He returned to Manila in November 1898. In 1898, he was appointed by the executive board of the
Philippine revolutionary government as a member of the Paris delegation which was working for the
diplomatic recognition of the Republica Filipina (Philippine Republic). In 1899, upon the signing of the
Treaty of Paris (1898), Luna was named a member of the delegation to Washington, D.C. to press for the
Philippine Government.
o He traveled back to the Philippines in December 1899 upon hearing of the murder of his brother Antonio
by the Kawit Battalion in Cabanatuan. He traveled to Hong Kong and died there on December 7, 1899
from a heart attact. His remains were buried in Hong Kong and in 1920 were exhumed and kept in
Andres Luna’s house, to be later transferred to a niche at the Crypt of the San Agustin Church in the
Philippines.
o Five years later, Juan would be reinstated as a world-renowned artist and Peuple Et Rois,
his last major, was acclaimed the best entry to the Saint Louis World’s Fair in St. Louis,
Missouri. Some of his paintings were destroyed by fire in World War ll

La Muerte De Cleopatra
The Death Of Cleopatra
- The actual Death of Cleopatra earned Juan Luna a silver
medal at the 1881 Exposition of Fine Arts in Madrid.
- It was a painter a pension scholarship at the
Ayuntamiento De Manila (600 pesos monthly).
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 - Sold to a private painter collector for 5,000 pesetas (highest price of painting during by
Spanish Gov’t for 1000 Euros.

Luna’s study of “Death of Cleopatra” sells for Php 9.3 million at auction
- In art, a study is drawing, sketch or painting done in
preparation for a finished piece, or as visual notes.
- Studies are often used to understand the problems involved
in rendering subjects and to plan the elements to be used in
finished works such as light, color, form, perspective and
composition.
- The star of the auction was Luna’s “Death of Cleopatra”
boceto, which, per square inch, was the highest price fetched
by a Luna at any auction. The piece sold for Php 9.3M. The painting measures 10 × 15
inches, which comes down to Php 62,293 per square inch.

“Spoliarium” by Juan Luna Y Novicio

- The spoliarium is the area within the Roman amphi theater where fallen
gladiators are stripped of their weapons, clothes, and other armor before their
decomposing bodies are carted off for burial in an unmarked grave or worse,
thrown into the Tiber River.

“Spoliarium” bocetos
- The art world went into a frenzy, wondering whether it’s a spectacular
rediscovery of a masterpiece after nearly 125 years, or the greatest con the
Philippine art world has ever seen.

-
Present literature tells us that Luna was known to have painted three versions of the
work: the most recognized one that hangs in the halls of the National Museum dated
in 1884; one held in a private collection in Manila and the other commissiioned for a
Russian nobleman whose whereabouts are unknown to this day; thus making this
version the earliest and the fourth known so far.
- This boceto is dated 1883, ascribed on the canvas itself with the words, “Spoliarium – boceto LVNA, R [ OMA ] ,
188,” making this version the earliest. In his catalogue notes, Lerma points out a peculiar signature done by Luna in
baybayin script located on the lower right side of the canvas. The script for the word BU LA [ N ] , was deduced
from the Ilocano word for “moon,” which the artist added only to about four of his known works.
- Close-ups of signature. From left to right: Chula by Luna (1884); Photo by Courtesy of Ayala Museum (Chula);
Salcedo Auctions(Spoliarium)

- The most expensive Philippine artwork ever sold was that of an earlier version of “Espana
Y Filipinas” done by Luna at a staggering P130 million at a Sotheby’s auction in 2013, and
is currently in the permanent collection of the National Gallery Singapore.
- Espana Y Filipinas, meaning “Spain and the Philippines” in traslation, is an 1886 oil on
wood by Filipino painter, ilustrado, and revolutionary activist, Juan Luna. It is an allegorical
depiction of two women together, one a representation of Spain and the other of the
Philippines. The painting, also know as Espana Guiando a Filipinas (“Spain Leading the
Philippines”), is regarded as one of the “enduring pieces of legacy” that the Filipinos
inherited from Luna. The painting is a centerpiece art at the Luna Hall of the Lopez
Memorial Museum.

- The Blood Compact (Spanish: El Pacto De Sangre) is an 1886 “historic and

historical painting by Filipino painter Juan Luna.

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 - The Blood Compact portrays the 1565 Sandugo (blood compact ritual) between Datu Sikatuna of Bohol and
Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, surrounded by other conquistadors.
- Datu Sikatuna was described to be ‘being crowded out of the picture by Miguel Lopez De Legazpi and his fellow
conquistadores’.

-
A rediscovered Juan Luna painting was sold for P46.8 million - roughly four to five
times its earlier estimated worth – at an auction in Makati City.
- In a facebook post, Salcedo Auctions confirmed that Luna’s 1885 creation “A Do…
Va La Nave?” (oil on canvas, 55 cm × 104 cm) was auctioned off to a private
collector.
- It features six women and three men on board a boat with a gloomy sky as their backdrop.
- According to Salcedo Auctions, the title of the painting borrows from an unfinished 1841 poem by 19 th century
Spanish Romantic poet Jose De Espronceda:

“ Y alla va la nave;
Quien sabe do va?
[ ¿ there goes the ship ; Who known where it will go ? ]

- Salcedo Auctions acquired the painting through Argentinia owner Maria Alberta Esther Susana Pignocchi-
Bonaldi’s granddaughter. Bonaldi’s husband Jose Domingo Bonaldi had received it as a gift from business
associate Goar Mestre, a media tycoon who fled his home country of Cuba upon the triumph of Field Castro and
the Communist Revolution. However, it is unclear how Mestre got hold of the painting. – Trisha Macas / BM,
GMA News

- Paintings of Juan Luna in his prison cell at the military barracks in Manila as
photographed by M. Arias Y Rodriguez, which appeared in the 06 August 1900 issue of La
Ilustracion Artistica.

-
Political prisoner Juan Luna was locked in a dungeon in the ground floor of the cavalry
barracks, “leaving him completely incommunicado,” according to Manuel Arias Y
Rodriguez. The famous Spoliarium artist was arrested on 23 October 1896 “for having
been implicated in the Philippine insurrection against Spain.”
- Juan Luna’s prison wall paintings (1896-1897)

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