Gabriel & Espiritu Salaysay at Saysay Manuscript (Unedited)

Chapter 7
The Propaganda in Art
The Juan Luna Paintings
By the last decades of the year 1800, it would be remembered that Filipinos would
have no more connection with South American colonies which were former colonies of Spain
turned independent during the beginning of the 1800. Mexico was then forgotten since the
only link between Manila and Acapulco was the Galleon trade which was terminated in 1815
due to bankruptcy. Mexico declared independence in 1821 and so did the other colonies of
Spain except Cuba and Puerto Rico. Links between the Philippines and Mexico and other
South American colonies of Spain which had waged their own revolutionary struggle against
Spain were lost. The middle class or mestizos which prided themselves as ilustrados
(enlightened ones) had only one direction to look on to and that is Europe which they had a
shorter and direct access to travel via Suez Canal. These ilustrados were eventually motivated
to bring the freedom and success they enjoyed in Europe to the land of their birth. This
brought about a movement known as the Propaganda. But the propaganda had been known of
only one dimension and that is all about reforming the homeland. There is, on the other hand,
another dimension to it.

Preliminary Activity
Read the following account and answer the process questions.

In 1885, Fray Miguel Lucio, a Franciscan, wrote in Tagalog of a story narrated to

him by an old man Gervacio “Bacio” Macunat about the story (historia) of his farming family
as written by Gervacio’s father Prospero who, an Indio in Tanay, Morong, was sent by his
father Don Andres Baticot and his mother Doña Maria Dimaniuala to take a gamble in Manila
in order to have education. But instead of prospering, so as to get out of a miserable life, with
an education he sought to have, his life ended up wasted in the city even losing whatever they
had in the province. This is the text of Bacio’s confession to Fray Lucio after he narrated the
fate of his father.

Si Tandang Bacio Macunat

(Excerpt)
Ang Cura dito sa amin, niyong panahong yaon, ay baga man castila, (siya,i,
Franciscano na pari nang mañga hinalinhan niya, at nang mañga humalili sa caniya),
baga man castila, anaquin, ay tagalog na tagalog cung sa pañguñgusap; at palibhasa,i,
matagal siyang totoo dito sa catagaloga,i, naalaman niya ang lahat na mañga asal at
ugali naming mañga indio. Caya nang humarap sa caniya si cabezang Dales, at
ipinahayag sa caniya ang talagang isasanguni sa caniya, ay sinagutan siya nang
aming cagalang-galang na Padre Cura nang isang mahaba at malinao na sagot, na
sasaclauin co dito sa maicsing salitang susunod:

—Mabuting-mabuti ang uica nang Padre Cura, mabuting-mabuti ang inaacala mo,
Andrés; palibhasa,i, maigui ñga na ang tauo,i, mag-aral nang mag-aral, hangang
macacayanan niya, nang mañga bagay-bagay na carunuñgan, macatutulong sa caniya
sa mañga iba’t, ibang calagayan natin dito sa lupa. Caya, naguing cauicaan nang
mañga pantas na marurunong, na ang carunuñgan ay hindi nacabibigat, cundi
nacagagaan nang mañga pasan natin dito sa mundo. Nguni’t, mayroon acong
itatanong sa iyo.

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—Cayo póng bahala, ang uica ni cabezang Dales.

—Ano caya ang hinahañgad mo, ó hinahabol mo baga sa anac mong si Próspero, dito
sa pagpapaluas mo sa caniya sa Maynila?

—Uala, po, acong ibang hinahabol at ninanasa sa aquing anac cundi ang siya,i,
matuto nang caunti sa Maynila.

Ay ano, ang ulit nang Cura, ay ano, di baga siya,i, marunong nang dasal?

—Marunong, pó.

—Di baga siya,i, marunong bumasa, sumulat at nang manga cuenta pa?

—Aua, pó, nang Pañginoon Dios, ay naalaman nang anac co iyang mañga bagay na
iyan.

—Di caya maalam si Próspero nang mag-araro, mag-alaga nang calabao, mañgahuy,
at nang iba’t, iba pang tungcol sa inyong pagcabuhay, at nang ucol naman sa mañga
catungculan nang tauong cristiano?

—Iyan póng lahat na iyan ay naalaman din ni Próspero.

—Cung ganoon, ang uica nang Cura, cung ganoon; ano pa ang hinahabol mo, ó
hinahanap mo cay Próspero?

—Ang ibig co, pó lamang, Amo, ang uica ni Dales, ay ang mag-aral si Prospero nang
caunting paquiquipagcapoua tauo, at natatanto rin, pó ninyo, na dito sa ating bayan,
ay hañgal na hañgal ang tauo, na halos hindi marunong sumagot, cung causapin
ninyo, cundi tanuñgin po, ninyo silang tungcol sa mañga calabao, mañga palayan,
mañga caiñgin ó ibang ganito.

—Totoo iyang salita mo, Andrés; subali’t, talastasin mo namang maigui, na

malaquingmalaquing camaliang umasa, na ang isang puno nang sampaloc ay
mamuñga nang bayabas, at isang, puno nang bayabas ay mamuñga nang sampaloc.
At itong camaliang ito,i, nasasainyong lahat halos, na bihirang-bihira ang hindi
nararamay sa camaliang ito. Caya ang nangyayari sa caramihan ninyong mañga
indio, maguing tagalog, maguing visaya, maguing vicol, pangpango, ilocano, etc. etc.
etc., ay gayon:

Mayroon cayong caunting salapi, at magcaanac cayo nang lalaqui, at capagcaraca,i,

tinutucso cayo nang demonio, ó nang inyong capoua tauo, ó nang inyong sariling
cahunghañgan ó capalaluan, na paluasin baga ninyo sa Maynila ang inyong anac na
lalaqui, nang doon siya,i, mag-aral; at hindi ninyong sinusubucan muna’t,
pinagmamasdan itong inyong anac, cung mabait baga at matalinong siya, ó matalas
caya ó mapurol ang caniyang ulo, ang caniyang pagiisip, sa macatouid.

Ang inyong guinagaua lamang sa mañga cataonang ganito, at ang inyong iniisip at
guinugunam-gunam lamang, ay cung quinacaya baga ninyo, ó hindi quinacaya ang
pagbabayad nang pag-aaral at pagtira nang inyong anac sa Maynila; at cung baga
inaacala ninyong nacacayanan din, ay isinusulong ninyo ang inyong banta’t,
calooban, at siya na.

Dahilan dito sa inyong asal, ang nangyayaring cadalasan,i, natutunao lamang ang
inyong salapi, at ang mañga anac ninyo,i, ualang ibang pinag-aaralan sa Maynila,
cundi mañga capillohan, casalauolaan, capalamarahan, at iba’t, iba pang
masasamang ugali.

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Cung dito, ang tuloy na salita nang aming mahal na Padre Cura, cung dito sa anac
mong si Próspero ay masasabi co sa iyo, na minamabait co’t, minamagaling cong
tauo, at inaari co siyang mabuting cristiano at masunuring anac. Subali’t, cung sa
aquing pagtiñgin, cung aquing pagmamasid sa caniya, ay tila,i, may capurulan ang
caniyang ulo, caya inaalaala co, na baca sacali’t, cung paluasin mo siya sa Maynila,
ay hindi lamang hindi matuto ang inaacala mong matutuhan niya roon, cundi bagcus
ay masira at mauala pa ang caniyang cabaita’t, cagalingan, at ang humalili dito,i, ang
capusuñgan at capalaluhan.

Caya ang hatol co at ang aquing sagot sa mañga ipinahayag mo at itinanong mo sa

aquin ay gayon: Houag mong paluasin si Próspero sa Maynila: sapagca’t, ñgayon
siya,i, mabait na anac, mahusay na binata, masunuring cristiano at mabuting
cababayan; ñguni’t, cung paluasin mo siya,i, hindi natin naalaman ang caniyang
casasapitan (Lucio 1885).

Process Questions

 Tandang Bacio in relating his story to Fray Lucio was all too desperate on the
fate his father ended up with. What thinking did the friar curate have in his
counsel with Tandang Bacio’s grandfather?
 Do you think this thinking pervaded among Indios in the provinces at that
time? Why?
 When Francisco Mercado Rizal learned that his son Jose, after two years of
studying in Biñan, already knew how to read, write, compute and knew
Doctrina Christiana, he readily ordered Paciano to accompany his younger
brother Jose to Manila in order to take an entrance test and study in high
school. Francisco had Chinese blood and Jose could be identified as a
Chinese mestizo. How different is the thinking of the middle class mestizos at
that time with that of the Indios?

The Propaganda is a movement of the middle class, a movement of the mestizos, a

movement of the educated. Here is where the other dimension of the Propaganda movement is
tied.

Historical Context of the Paintings

As the Spanish colonies in Spanish took advantage of the invasion of France in 1808,
Mexico gained its independence in 1821 and soon, colonies of Spain in South America fell
into the hands of reformers and revolutionaries who declared the independence of these
colonies. When the ashes settled in Spain with the defeat of the French and their withdrawal
from Spain in 1813, Spanish authorities had to rethink what had been left of their colonies
around the world. Considered to be the remotest colony they had, the Philippines was still
within the Spanish orbit without any clamor for independence by the middle of 1800. In 1841,
under the reign of Queen Isabela II, the Spanish government sent a diplomat, Sinebaldo de
Mas to investigate on the condition of the Philippines. De Mas arrived in Manila in 1841,
presented himself to government officials but was not well-received since his job might
uncover the irregularities in the colonial government. He traveled around the colony though
his allowances were late in coming and went back to Spain in 1842 to hand over his report
entitled Informe. His report began with these:

The laws of a republic must have a purpose and they are wiser and more perfect in
the measure that they fulfill and accomplish their purpose. Hence, in order to
determine what laws best fit the Philippines, it is necessary to take into account the
purpose that the government has in mind for the islands. These purposes may
probably be reduced to the following:

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Keep the islands as Colony forever, i.e., never to consider their separation.

Consider their loss or conservation and the fate of the Spanish nationals living therein
as a matter of no importance.

Determine their emancipation and prepare the islands for independence.

If the second of these three political alternatives is preferred, then it would be

sufficient to maintain the islands in their present status. I shall, therefore, deal solely
with the first and the last of these alternatives.

To my way of thinking, in order to keep the Colony as such, one must act in
accordance with the spirit of the following three principles which I shall successively
try to illustrate: Firstly, the Spaniards born in the Philippines must be reduced as
much as possible in number. Secondly, the colored population must voluntarily
respect and obey the whites. Thirdly, the administration must undergo a thorough
reform (De Mas 1963:121).

The reduction of insulares or Spaniards born in the Philippines is important since this
group do not have any connection or love for Spain in order to translate that love to make the
colony a success. The indios should naturally respect the Spaniards that there should be a
distinction on how they would dress up since many middle class mestizos can already afford
the same coat as the Spaniards could sport. Lastly there should be large-scale reform from the
structure of government at the top to the bureaucracy of local administration.

After discoursing on the means to preserve the colony, so long as this is the intention
of the government, we shall consider the other extreme in sight which is, to decide its
emancipation and prepare it for freedom.

To achieve this end, it becomes necessary as a natural thing to adopt a system almost
diametrically opposed to the first. The principal aim should be that blood should not
flow, that the commercial and friendly relations with Spain be not interrupted, that
European Spaniards living there should not lose all their chattels and immovable
properties and above all that those of our race… (De Mas 1963: 191-192).

De Mas personally recommended that with all these purposes, he opted for the
emancipation of the islands. But De Mas admitted certain dilemmas to what this report would
end up into.

I am persuaded that in the midst of the political circumstances, in which Spain is in

now, the state of that colony will be neglected none of the measures (this is my
conviction) that I have proposed for keeping it will be adopted; and the Philippines
will become emancipated violently with great loss to properties and lives of
Europeans and Filipino Spaniards. I think it would be infinitely much easier, more
useful and more glorious for us to achieve the merit of the work, by forestalling it
with generosity. Thus foreign writers who have unjustly spoken ill of our overseas
governments, the writers of the very nations who always hunger for new colonies
will this at least to say: “The Spaniards crossing new and distant seas, extended the
boundaries of the known world by discovering the Philippines. They found in these
islands anarchy and despotism and they established order and justice; they found
slavery and they destroyed it by imposing political equality; they ruled its inhabitants
with beneficent laws; they Christianized them, they civilized them and defended
them from the Chinese, the Moro pirates and European aggressors; they gave them
much gold and finally they gave them freedom” (De Mas 1963:194).

De Mas indicated that the colony had lagged behind. Reform in the economy, and in
the political administration should be an immediate necessity despite the predominance of the

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friars’ rule that had superseded the civil administration in the grassroots. Reforming the
colony from the inside would hardly work. In Malolos, Bulacan, Marcelo Del Pilar founded
the Diariong Tagalog in 1882 as a channel to criticize the friars of their corrupt and ways and
in turn produce changes in the colony. But no matter how much sarcasm there was to throw at
the friars, reform could hardly materialize internally among those with seared conscience.
Diariong Tagalog only had a year in existence as it attracted the ire of friars. Reform in the
colony had to be taken externally at the heart of Madrid where legislators in the Spanish
Cortez, the politicians and policy makers in Spain could craft the necessary laws to impose
changes in the colony.

In regard to De Mas’s statement “I am persuaded that in the midst of the political

circumstances, in which Spain is in now,” would indicate expediency as to the instability that
Spain suffers.

By the last half of the 19th century, the mestizos of Chinese or European mix had
gained considerable riches as the product of land and their profession that they could send
their young adult children to Europe to pursue higher education. But Europe was also at its
crossroads. Spain was under pressure either to adopt a purely democratic government without
a king or have a king under a constitutional monarchy after the invasion of France in 1808
under Napoleon Bonaparte and the puppet government of Joseph Bonaparte, brother of
Napoleon whose reign ended in 1813. The return of Ferdinand VII who abdicated the throne
at the assumption of Joseph Bonaparte did not prove uniting for Spain, for the Spaniards had
already experienced not having one during the invasion. Ferdinand VII handed over the reign
to his daughter Queen Isabela II in 1833 but Spain plunged into a civil war during the
Revolution of 1868 which deposed Queen Isabela II. Spain adopted a government without a
monarch but the regency or ruler of the provisional government stayed for only 4 months until
Alfonso XII the son of Queen Isabella II was reinstituted in 1874. But the king succumbed to
tuberculosis in 1885 after 11 years of rule. Unfortunately his heir Alfonso XIII was still in the
belly of the Queen Maria Christina and at his birth the infant was already invested with the
task to rule the country which he could not do and which his mother as regent, Queen Maria
Christina could not also accomplish since liberalism that upheld the rights of man even at the
expense of the monarch was sweeping Europe. These were the condition of Spain when the
propagandists went to Europe as Spain was under the tug and pull of two parties, the liberals
and the conservatives.

Graciano Lopez Jaena fled from the Philippines to Spain in 1880 after he drew the ire
of the friars when he wrote Fray Botod and became the object of manhunt. The ex-seminarian
from Seminario de Jaro slipped secretly out of the country after exposing the friars into
ridicule having pictured them as stout, figuratively meaning corrupt, abusive, and immoral.
He studied medicine at Universidad de Valencia but transferred to Madrid where the center of
political activities was. Rather than studying medicine, he was enticed to go back to that thing
he really loved and that was writing and political activism. He engaged himself in public
speaking arguing among Spanish friars and politicians in Madrid the need to reform the
colony. In 1882, Jose Rizal arrived in Spain to pursue further medical studies. By that year, it
was well agreed among the fellow reform-minded expatriates from the Philippines the reform
agenda was not about the fight for independence but the change of status through legislative
or policy shift from colony to province. This would mean full assimilation of the Philippines
to Spain. This way, Indios would become Spanish citizens and they can be afforded to select
their representatives to the Spanish Cortez. This way abuses against Filipinos would stop
(Agoncillo and Guerrero 1977:141).

The reform agenda can only be carried out through propaganda and that is through a
publication intended for Spanish legislators, politicians and bureaucrats who could be swayed
into crafting a law for the Philippines to change its status. Moreover, the specific target would

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be the liberals who would agree to change the status of the Philippines if they would know the
abuses that the Indios were suffering in the hands of friars and Spanish bureaucrats in the
colony. The idea was to expose to Spain what really was happening in the Philippines. But
from 1882 no newspaper had been operational. Rizal was busy with his medical studies and
no veteran journalist was with the group to manage the publication. By 1887, Rizal came up
with his novel, Noli Me Tangere after he was done with his medical studies and having
undergone his specialization in ophthalmology in France and surgery in Germany. Their
anticipation for a newspaper was temporarily eclipsed by the novel which became the banner
for the group. After the publication of the novel in the same year, Rizal decided to go home
only to find out that some copies of Noli that were smuggled to the Philippines became a hit.
It quickly produced political ripples among Dominicans in the Philippines which compelled
his family to advise him to go back to Spain to protect his life. It was in 1888 when he
decided to return to Spain which coincided also with the decision of Del Pilar to sail to Spain.
By 1889, the staff of the envisioned newspaper was already complete and that year La
Solildaridad was born.

About the Painter

The three big names of the propaganda movement, Rizal, Jaena and Del Pilar were
more engaged with the business of writing except Juan Luna who was endeared with the
canvas. Juan Luna was born in Badoc, Ilocos Norte to Joaquin Posadas Luna and Laureana
Ancheta Novicio on October 23, 1857. He was the son of a tobacco salesman during its
monopoly years, then they transferred to Binondo in 1861 when Joaquin found work as a
merchant. Juan Luna may have first been fascinated with the sea that he enrolled at Escuela
Nautica de Manila and became a sailor but his natural talent in painting attracted him to take
lessons with Lorenzo Guerrero at Ermita, Manila and later formalized his painting classes by
enrolling at Academia de Dibujo Y Pintura but his maestro Augustin Saez was not pleased
with the style of Luna’s strokes that he was discharged from the art academy (Torres 2015).

In 1877 he and his brother Manuel traveled to Europe to further their studies, Manuel
into music while Juan into painting. Juan enrolled at Escuela de Bellas Artes de San
Fernando where he became a close friend of another painter Don Alejo Vera. Juan was
disgusted over the style of teaching at the school of arts and instead made himself a close
associate of Alejo Vera where he was taken to Rome so he could be exposed to Renaissance
art. By 1878 Luna concentrated in his art and produced a number of paintings that in 1881, he
entered his La Muerte de Cleopatra which won him silver. The bigger prize he got was a 600-
peso-yearly pension from Ayuntamiento de Manila where he was commissioned to produce
just one painting depicting Philippine colonial history within the 4-year pensionship but he
produced more than one. In 1884, he won gold medal in the Madrid Exposición Nacional de
Bellas Artes. That year Filipino expatriates in Spain headed by the reformists arranged a
banquet in honor of him and Felix Hidalgo who won silver. By this time, Juan was already
imbedded within the company of the reformists. In 1890, Antonio Luna, the youngest among
the siblings was sent by his parents to Madrid and was invited by his older brother Juan to the
circle of reformers where he became a writer of La Solidaridad (Padilla 2018).

Juan was not a writer of La Solidaridad, neither did he paint a critique of the Spanish
colonizers nor did he paint about the abuses suffered by the Indios in the hands of the
Spaniards in the Philippines, but he was an essential part of the propaganda movement for he
exemplified another aspect of the movement, not political but sociological. While La
Solidaridad was directly engaged in political activism, Juan epitomized excellence and
international recognition. These expatriates excelled in their own fields while in Europe and
Europe recognized them, but right in their own colony the Philippines, these achievements
meant nothing. The term Filipinos still pertained to insulares or Spaniards born in the
Philippines and whether Indio or Chinese or European mestizos, they were still called Indios.

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While these young Indio achievers also meant nothing to the Spaniards in the Philippines,
these Indios were highly regarded in the mother country Spain. Reform would mean not only
the change of status of the Philippines toward total assimilation, reform would also mean
enjoying the accolade befitting their success whether an Indio, mestizo or Spaniard not only
in Spain but also in the colony. The other side of the reform movement then was excellence in
the work of their hands and the recognition they rightfully deserve which they never received
in the Philippines.

========================================

Painting 7.1

Spoliarium 1884
(Image: http://www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph/nationalmuseumbeta/Collections/Spoliarium.html)

The Madrid Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes had the Roman gladiator arena as
the singular theme. While other painters pictured the glorious victory of Roman gladiators
above the amphitheater, Juan painted the desperate scene down below. This painting won
international recognition at a time when the reformists were firming up their reform-agenda
but without a publication yet as planned.

********

Painting 7.2

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Gabriel & Espiritu Salaysay at Saysay Manuscript (Unedited)

España Y Felipinas (Spain and Philippines)1886

(Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Espana_y_Filipinas_by_Juan_Luna.jpg)

This painting was done when Juan was under commission from Ayuntamiento de
Manila. Also titled España Guiando a Filipinas (Spain leading the Philippines), the painting
characterizes the reform agenda of the propaganda movement. Juan drew this painting while
shuttling on two cities, Paris and Madrid to finish several commissioned works. This piece
was painted at a time when the reform movement was at its organizational stage.

********

Painting 7.3

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El Pacto Sangre (The Sacred Pact) 1886

(Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Blood_Compact_by_Juan_Luna.jpg)

Part of the commissioned work with Ayuntamiento de Manila, the painting

pictured the sacred pact between Datu Sikatuna (modeled by Rizal) and Miguel
Lopez de Legaspi (posed by Juan’s brother-in-law Trinidad Pardo de Tavera). This
painting was done during the organizational stage of the propaganda movement.

********

Painting 7.4

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La Batalla de Lepanto (The Battle of Lepanto) 1887

(Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Battle_of_Lepanto_of_1571_full_version_by_Juan_Luna.jpg)

With the influence of King Alfonso XIII, the Spanish Cortez approved the
commissioning of a painting depicting the Spanish victory against the Moors. This piece was
done within the year that Rizal published his Noli Me Tangere. At this time the reform
movement has generated waves in Madrid and which ripples had reached the Philippines
when copies of Noli Me Tangere were smuggled into the Philippines. From 1887, Madrid had
to wait only two years before La Solidaridad would begin circulation.

********

Painting 7.5

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Interior d’Un Café (Inside a Café or The Parisian Life) 1892

(Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Parisian_Life_by_Juan_Luna.jpg)

Also titled Inside a Café, this painting was painted when Juan Luna settled in Paris at
a time when disarray had rocked the propaganda movement and Rizal had bolted out of La
Solidaridad. Within this year, Rizal would decide to go back to the Philippines, had a few
months stay in Hong Kong to put a clinic and practice ophthalmic surgery, then by June of
that year decided to go home only to be exiled to Dapitan. By this time the propaganda was
almost dead but back home the Katipunan had begun. This was also the time when the Luna
family was rocked with a tragedy.

In 1886, at the height of Juan Luna’s artistic career, Juan married Maria dela Paz
Pardo de Tavera, the sister of Trinidad and Felix a close friend and associates in the reform
movement. The marriage bore two children Andres and Maria fondly called Bibi. Bibi died in
infancy which rocked their marriage in 1892 while they were living in Paris. Juan accused his
wife of having a relationship with a French doctor. In a fit of rage, Juan either accidentally or
intentionally shot his wife, his mother-in-law and wounded Felix, his brother-in-law. Juan
was arrested and prosecuted for murder. But he was acquitted in 1893 on his defense that the
killing was a crime of passion. That year, Juan together with his youngest brother Antonio
and his son Andres returned to Madrid.

========================================

Postscript
The propaganda movement was not able to attain its aims. Strategic differences
between Rizal and Del Pilar cracked the organization. Del Pilar was arguing that assimilation

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would be impossible in the face of the more pressing problems that Spain was facing. While
liberal politicians agreed that the reform had to reach the colony, they, otherwise, argued that
Spain had graver issues to address in the midst of the political instability it was facing.
Likewise, the anticipated support that was hoped to come from the politicians and
intellectuals from Spain was doused at the advent of a counter-propaganda newspaper La
Politica de España en Felipinas which the friars in Madrid put up to as counterattack against
the criticisms mounted by La Solidaridad. Compounding the problem was the dwindling
propaganda funds originating from the Philippines since the writers of La Solidaridad though
they had been hiding under pen-names were already detected and their families could easily
be persecuted. In the same manner the fund contributor in the Philippines could also be
detected (Agoncillo and Guerrero 1977:157-158).

On this backdrop, Del Pilar was opting for independence since asking Spain to give
us independence would be easier than not letting the colony go.
The final stage of the Propaganda Movement after 1891 was increasingly
characterized by the shift from assimilation as a strategy to advance the nationalist
cause, to assimilationism as a cover for separation from Spain (Schumacher 1977:
1769).

Rizal, however, did not agree on a hurried independence, since we were not prepared
to become independent with only very few among them who were educated enough to put up
a functioning democratic government. Likewise, if independence would echo into the colony,
the impatient inhabitants of the colony might opt for a bloody revolution which in Rizal’s
calculation would produce bloodshed but will never be successful. This compelled him to
write his second novel, El Felibusterismo in 1892.

But with the tragedy that befell Juan Luna in 1892, tragedy also struck Rizal when he
was accused of keeping a subversive material upon his return in June of that year and was
exiled in Dapitan. Though La Solidaridad continued on publication until 1895 while the
Katipunan was still working underground, the dwindling funds had made Jaena and Del Pilar
impoverished. They did not even attempt to go home for they might receive the same fate as
Rizal. On January 20, 1896, Jaena succumbed to tuberculosis while Del Pilar died on July 4,
1896. By this time the propaganda movement had already died.

In the meantime, Juan and Antonio decided to go home with the outbreak of the
revolution but got arrested in September 1896 while the revolutionaries in Cavite were
winning series of battles. They were imprisoned and stayed incarcerated when Rizal was
executed on December 30, 1896. Juan still produced artworks which he gave to visiting friars.
This became their ticket to being pardoned in May 27, 1897 when Aguinaldo’s forces were
already on the run in the mountains of Sierra Madre towards Biak-na-bato. Juan and Antonio
left Manila in July 1897 for Madrid. When Aguinaldo came back to Manila in May 1898 from
Hong Kong for the second phase of the revolution, Antonio returned to the Philippines in July
1898 to present himself in service of the revolutionists while Juan also returned in November
1898 to serve as diplomatic officer abroad. Juan went back to Paris to head the diplomatic
delegation in order to acquire recognition for the declaration of independence on June 12,
1898 before the signing of the Treaty of Paris in December 1898.

Antonio fought side by side with his brother Joaquin against the Americans until
Antonio was recalled from Pangasinan to Cabanatuan in June 1899 where he was assassinated
in the hands of the Kawit company. Upon knowing the death of his brother, Juan tried to
return to the Philippines. He stopped over Hong Kong to meet up with Joaquin but died there
of heart attack on December 7, 1899.

========================================

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Gabriel & Espiritu Salaysay at Saysay Manuscript (Unedited)

Reinforcement Activity

 Appreciating the significant contributions of Juan Luna as an artist

a) What characteristics did Juan Luna possess that made him a great artist?
b) What contributions did Juan Luna accomplish for the entire Indios and for the
rest of the mestizos in the colony at that time?
c) How would this contribution reflect on us today?

 Evaluating Juan Luna’s paintings as to their essential elements

Complete the matrix in order to evaluate Juan Luna’s works.

España Y The Sacred The Battle The

Spoliarium
Categories Felipinas Pact of Lepanto Parisian
1884
1886 1886 1887 Life 1892
Identify the
major
element/s in
the painting.
Describe the
major
element/s .
Identify the
minor
element/s in
the painting.
Describe the
minor
element/s .
Describe the
background
lighting.
How did the
background
contribute to
the overall
atmosphere of
the painting?
If you draw an
intersecting
vertical and
horizontal line
at the center,
how is
balance
achieved?
What, then, is
the overall
message of
the painting?

 Appreciating the values of excellent work and recognition as the other

dimension of the propaganda movement

131
Gabriel & Espiritu Salaysay at Saysay Manuscript (Unedited)

a) How was the value of excellence in work exemplified in the life of Juan
Luna? Identify these instances in his painting career.
b) Compare how the Spaniards in Europe accepted and recognized Juan’s talent
and how the Spaniards regarded him in the colony?

Relevance
Juan Luna did not paint so much about the history of the Philippines neither did he
draw critiques of how the colony was administered. He did not even paint to criticize the
Spaniards, instead he was portraying a bright future if Spain will lead the Philippines by her
bosom. But his works are relevant on these points:

 Juan Luna and his paintings exemplified excellence which an Indio was able to outdo
his Spanish contemporaries as an artist recognized in Europe at that time.
 By doing this, Luna and his works endowed honor to his fellow Filipinos during his
time and to us today.

Challenge
Excellence exemplified by the reformists was an important quality that they
possessed though they were only a small company of great men. This is a value lacking in our
society even today. We tend to be comfortable and content with our work, though how shabby
and sloppy it is. And worse, for those who wanted to excel and for those who already
excelled, somebody will pull them down one way or the other. How would you then
exemplify excellence in your life in order to give honor to yourself, to your family, to your
country, and to your fellow Filipinos? What would you do with your fellow Filipinos who
excelled?

References
Lucio, Miguel (1885) Si Tandang Bacio Macunat (http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15981).

Agoncillo, Teodoro A. and Guerrero, Milagros C. (1977) History of the Filipino People.
Quezon City: R.P. Garcia Publishing Co.

De Mas, Sinebaldo (1963) Informe Sobre el estado de las Islas Filipinas en 1842, translated
by Botor, Carlos, Manila: Historical Conservation Society.

Padilla, Marian (2018) Juan Luna Biography, SCRIBD,

(https://www.scribd.com/document/371349416/Juan-Luna-Biography).

Schumacher, John N. (1977) “Emerging Counter-consciousness,” in Filipino Heritage: The

Making of a Nation, Vol. 7, Roces, Alfredo, ed., Manila: Lahing Pilipino Publishing.

Torres, Eric (2015) In Focus: The Art of Juan Luna, National Commission for Culture and the
Arts (http://ncca.gov.ph/about-culture-and-arts/in-focus/the-art-of-juan-luna/).

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