The Spanish Colonial Tradition in Philippine Visual Arts

• When the Spaniards arrived in the Philippines in 1521, the colonizers used art as a tool to
propagate the Catholic faith through beautiful images. With communication as problem,
the friars used images to explain the concepts behind Catholicism, and to tell the stories
of Christ’s life and passion. Images of the Holy Family and the saints were introduced to
the Filipino psyche through carved santos, the via crucis (Stations of the Cross),
engravings on estampas and estampitas, and through paintings on church walls.
• Though the ethnic art forms such as pottery, weaving and metalwork were retained, the
Spanish friars and the Chinese, the colony’s primary trading partner, were slowly
introducing newer art forms. Icons brought by the friars were used as models for
sculpture. Filipino artisans were taught the Chinese brushwork technique in painting.
Engraving was also introduced.
• The concept of patronage emerged. Artisans were
commissioned and paid to carve, engrave, and paint. They
replaced the arts that were once done in a communal spirit and
community setting for rituals. The church, particularly the friars,
became the new patron of the arts.
• Since most art produced during the first two centuries of
Spanish occupation were for the church, the friars enforced
strict supervision over their production. Until the 19 th century, art
was only for the church and religious use.
• Early in the 19th century, with the opening of the Suez canal in
1869 and the development of the agricultural export economy,
native indios acquired economic wealth and became what was
to be called the “ilustrados,”meaning enlightened and
educated. These developments paved the way for Filipinos
ilustrados to send their children to universities in Europe. The
rise of the “ilustrado” (Filipinos with money and education) class
was inevitable. The ilustrados became the new patron of the
arts. These events paved the way for the secularization of art in
the 19th century.
• A. Painting
• The Spanish friars introduced Western painting in the Philippines to artisans who learned to copy on two-
dimensional form from the religious icons that the friars brought from Spain,. For the first centuries of
Spanish colonization, painting was limited to religious icons. Portraits of saints and of the Holy Family
became a familiar sight in churches. Other subject matters include the passion of Christ, the Via Crucis, the
crucifixion, portrayal of heaven, purgatory and hell.
• Painters from the Visayas island of Bohol were noted for their skillful manipulation of the technique. Their
paintings of saints and religious scenes show figures in frontal and static positions. For the Boholano
painters, the more important persons would be depicted bigger than the rest of the figures. Christ normally
dwarfs the Roman soldiers in these paintings. Unfortunately, they did not sign their names on their works
and no record of their names exists.
• In the church in Paete, Laguna are two works by Josef Luciano Dans (1805- ca. 1870), probably one of
the earliest recorded painters in Philippine art history. Langit, Lupa at Impierno ca. 1850 (Heaven, Earth
and Hell), a three-level painting which shows the Holy Trinity, Mary the Mother of Christ, saints, the Seven
Blessed Sacraments and a macabre depiction of Hell. The second painting is
entitled Purgatorio (Purgatory) which shows the eight forms of punishment the soul passes through for
cleansing before reaching Heaven.
• During the early part of the Spanish occupation, painting was exclusively for the churches and for
religious purposes. Occasionally, it was also used for propaganda. Esteban Villanueva of Vigan,
Ilocos Sur depicted the Ilocos revolt against the basi monopoly in a 1821. The Spanish government
commissioned the work. The fourteen panels show the series of events that led to the crushing of
the Ilocano basi workers revolt by Spanish forces. It also showed the appearance of Halley’s comet
in the Philippines during that time.
• Tagalog painters Jose Loden, Tomas Nazario and Miguel de los Reyes, did the first still life
paintings in the country. They were commissioned in 1786 by a Spanish botanist to paint the flora
and fauna found in the country.
• The earliest known historical paintings in the Philippines was a mural at the Palacio Real (Royal
Palace) in Intramuros entitled The Conquest of the Batanes done in 1783. Unfortunately, it was
destroyed during the 1863 earthquake.
• In the early 19th century, the rise of the ilustrados saw a rise in the art of portraiture. The need to
adorn their newly constructed bahay-na-bato and the want to document their new found wealth and
social status, the ilustrados commissioned painters to make portraits of themselves. The works of
painters like Simon Flores,Antonio Malantic and Justiniano Ascunsion captured the intricately
designed jewelry and fashion accessories, the minuet details of the embroidered clothes, and
ornately designed domestic furniture of the patrons. The painstaking attention to minuet details
characterized miniaturismo.
• Governor General Narciso Claveria in 1849 issued a decree that all Philippine natives should
assume Spanish names. Letras Y Figuras, (letters and figures), a style developed by Jose Honorato
Lozano, combines both tipos del pais and genre paintings by forming the letters of the patron’s
name from figures of people in local costumes doing everyday activities. It also utilized landscape
scenes as background.
• Several Filipino painters had the chance to study and work abroad. Among them were Juan
Novicio Luna and Felix Resureccion Hidalgo who became the first international Filipino artists
when they won the gold and silver medals in the 1884 Madrid Exposition.
• Luna’s academic painting Spoliarium won gold medal. It showed the dead and dying Roman
Gladiators being dragged into the basement of the Coliseum. It is often interpreted as an allusion to
Imperial Spain’s oppression of the natives. Though winning the gold medal, Luna was not awarded
the Medal of Excellence, the top award for the competition, because he was a Filipino. The King of
Spain, to assuage Luna’s feelings, commissioned him to paint The Battle at Lepanto. Hidalgo won
the silver medal for Virgenes christianas expuestas al populacho or Christian Virgins Exposed to
the Public. The feat of Luna and Hidalgo caught the attention of Dr. Jose Rizal, the Philippine’s
National Hero, that in a gathering of Filipinos in Madrid, he gave a speech praising Luna and
Hidalgo for their mastery and nationalism
• B. Sculpture
• Of all the new art forms introduced, the natives took to sculpture instantly. The carving of anito was
transformed into sculpture of the saints. These santos were used primarily for the church altars
and retablos. It also replaced the anitos in the altars of the natives’ homes.
• Carvings for churches include altarpieces called retablos (usually with niches for the icons), the
central point of any Catholic church. The retablo houses the tabernacle and the image of the town’s
patron saint. Usually referred to as a “cabinet of saints”, one would see a hierarchy of saints
depending on their importance to the townspeople. The patron saint would be in the middle; less
important saints would be in the periphery. The most elaborate retablos can be seen in the San
Agustin Church in Intramuros.
• Other parts of the church that may have carvings are church doors, pulpits, and carrozas (floats
that carry the saints for processions). The façade of churches may be carved from adobe, coral
stone, and volcanic rock, among others. It may have carved images of saints, floral decorations or
leaf decors. In the case of the Miag-ao Church in Iloilo, the façade is decorated with a carved image
of St. Christopher carrying the Christ Child on his shoulders under a coconut tree.
• C. GRAPHIC ARTS
• Engraving was introduced in the 1590’s by the Spanish colonizers. In 1593, the Dominicans
published the La Doctrina Christiana en la Lengua Española y Tagala (The Christian Doctrine in the
Spanish and Tagalog Language), first book printed in the country. On it was a woodcut engraving of
St. Dominic by Juan de Veyra, a Chinese convert.
• The religious orders owned printing presses and printed mostly prayer books and estampas.
The estampas(prints of miraculous images) usually featured portraits of saints and religious
scenes. Estampas andestampitas (smaller version of estampas) were distributed during town
fiestas to the natives.
• In the 18th century, copper etching became more popular. Filipino engravers like Francisco Suarez,
Nicolas de la Cruz Bagay, Laureano Atlas, and Felipe Sevilla were the first Filipino artists to sign
their works. And with words like “Indios Tagalo” or “Indio Filipino”, affixed their social status on their
works.
• Francisco Suarez (ca. 1690 – ca. 1762) and Nicolas de la Cruz Bagay
(1702 – ca. 1765) collaborated to depict landscapes, genre scenes and
flora and fauna on the borders of maps commissioned by Fr. Murillo
Velarde in 1733. These were probably the first secular images done in
the country. The two also illustrated the pasyon written by Gaspar
Aquino de Belen entitled Mahal na Passion ni Jesu Christong
Panginoon Natin Na Tola (The Holy Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ
in Verse), possibly the first pasyon written in the country.
• Laureano Atlas made religious scenes and images. He did one of the
earliest known portrait engraved on copper, a portrait of Archbishop
Juan Angel Rodriguez in 1743. Phelipe Sevilla depicted scenes from
the life of Christ.
• 0ne of the popular newspapers during the 19 th century was La
Illustracion Filipina published by Don Jose Zaragosa. It had
more than 100 issues from November 1891 to February 1895. It
usually featured lithograph prints of people, landscapes and
genre scenes. Since most of the family members know how to
draw (including Carmen Zaragosa mentioned earlier), some of
their works must have been published here.
• Reference/s:
Gatbonton, Juan, et.al. Art Philippines. Crucible WorkshopRod Paras-Perez. Edades and the 13
Moderns. Cultural Center of the PhilippinesTiongson, Nicanor G. CCP Encyclopedia of Philippine
Visual Arts, Cultural Center of the Philippines.

• About the Author: Eloisa May P. Hernandez teaches

Humanities at the Department of Art Studies of the University of
the Philippines, Diliman. She worked for the Coordinating
Center for Visual Arts, Outreach and Exchange Division, and
Museo ng Kalinangang Pilipino at the Cultural Center of the
Philippines.
What is Philippine about Philippine Art?

• The Philippines had been interacting with different foreigners

primarily though trading even in the early times. With the
series of colonization that took place, it is inevitable that our
art had been influenced by our colonizers one way or another.
Not to mention the diversity among various groups in the
Philippines. But did these hindered us from having a unique
art?
Early Philippine Art

• As you study Philippine Arts even further, you will see its diversity and complexity as influenced by every period in our history. You
will see how art also became a medium and an artifact or a reminder of what transpired throughout the course of Philippine history.
• For one to understand the importance and influence of Philippine Art to the present, here are some known artforms present in the Pre-
conquest or the period before the coming of the first colonizers.
• Angono Petroglyphs (Links to an external site.)

(Links to an external site.)

• Shell bracelets and pendants

• Manunggul Jar (Links to an external site.)

• Lingling-o (Links to an external site.)
• Anthropomorphic Pots (Links to an external site.)
• Gold Death-Mask (Links to an external site.)
• Philippine Gold Collection (Links to an external site.)

NOTE: go to canvas