PROPERTY FROM THE AMBASSADOR PEDRO CONLU HERNAEZ COLLECTION La Majordoma signed (lower right) ca. 1890 oil on canvas 20" x 18" (51 cm x 46 cm) PROVENANCE: Acquired by Amb. Hernaez in the 1960s, Madrid, Spain At the height of his fame at the turn of the 1890s, Juan Luna decided to take a divergent path. When his lyrical Hymen, oh Hyménée! won the bronze medal at the Paris Exposition of 1889 despite it being submitted as hors concours, it seemed that Luna had no other way but up, considering that he had just participated—and won at the world's biggest exposition in the world's magnificent art capital. He had also been accorded recognition for his artistic talents and was warmly received by the European monarchs of the time, including King Alfonso XII of Spain and King Umberto and his wife, Queen Marguerita, of Italy. However, this was also a time when the Propaganda Movement further strengthened with the establishment of La Solidaridad, peopled by Rizal, Del Pilar, Jaena, and the two Luna brothers, among others. It would publish its own newspaper of the same name, with the first issue coming out on February 15, 1899. The Propaganda Movement, although reformist in form, was revolutionary and radical in essence. Juan Luna as a Painter of the Common People Luna’s Social Realist Period of 1890 - 1893 by ADRIAN MARANAN “Despite access to the head of the table, Luna would eventually find himself more concerned with those without a seat. If 1872 was formative in Rizal’s nationalism, 1889 can be viewed as a decisive year for Luna. Towards the end of his life, Luna became more active as a politician for the fledgling Philippine government after Emilio Aguinaldo proclaimed independence from Spain in 1898. But it was in the City of Lights, between splendor and struggle, that Luna’s own nascent expression of nationalism was born.” —MARINELLA ANDREA C. MINA, “OF SPLENDOR & STRUGGLE: THE FIN-DE-SIÈCLE AND THE WORLD OF JUAN LUNA,” ESSAY PUBLISHED IN THE MONOGRAPH “SPLENDOR, JUAN LUNA: PAINTER AS HERO,” 2023 The Beginnings of Luna’s Social Realist Period I n a correspondence with Javier Gomez de la Serna dated May 26, 1889, Luna revealed that his painting was becoming more inclined to a kind of everyday realism rather than his tried and tested formula of romantic realism. "[My] painting is [becoming] more realistic each day," Luna wrote. The end that has been sought has not yet been reached, but the tendency to an intangible reality, there is no doubt, and do not think it is a brutal and disgusting reality. No, a sublime reality in a new form." (English translation by Dr. Ambeth Ocampo, in his essay "Juan Luna and the Pursuit of Greatness," published in the book "Splendor, Juan Luna: Painter as Hero") In 1890, Luna corresponded with Rizal about a "large" painting he was doing depicting a "modern and simple" subject. Titled Monjas Francesas y su Rebaño (French Nuns and their Flock), which showed an orphanage along a Parisian street, the piece would become a significant turning point in Luna's career, as it would manifest his sympathies and affinities with the ordinary people. He would begin to document everyday Parisian living, focusing on the proletarians and the greater population of the impoverished masses. As a Filipino expatriado in the French capital, Luna saw the oppressive conditions of the working class under industrial capitalism (i.e. the widening inequality as profits from production were favored over humane working conditions) as reflections of the injustices committed by the Spanish to his fellow Filipinos. Luna would join the Salon of 1890, in which a new group, the Société Nationale des BeauxArts, held its first exhibition organized and led by Puvis de Chavannes. The Société rejected the overt orthodoxy of the older Société des Artistes Français. Members of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts were influenced by the ideas of Gustave Courbet, the French painter who rejected Romanticism and led the Realism movement in the 1840s and held as its battle cry the depiction of reality as it is. Courbet was a supporter of the Paris Commune of 1871, in which he also participated. The Paris Commune was a short-lived revolutionary government led by the French working class that aimed to establish a socialist republic governed by proletarians and put an end to the hegemony of the repressive state. The Salon of 1890, reported The Art Amateur, an American magazine "devoted to art in the household," had as its "great feature… the delineation of contemporary life—genre painting, as it is called." Continues the magazine, "But, if we sometimes find a sincere and personal effort to render the living reality, it is not so agreeable to notice that a majority of the artists chose by preference scenes of rags and misery, surgical operations, and "human documents" of a like nature." Luna felt rapport with the socialist-influenced Société, writing to Rizal, "I belong to the dissident Salon." At this time, Luna fully assimilated himself into the French social realist movement. He submitted an entry in the 1890 Salon—held at the historic Champs-de-Mars, titled Le Chiffonnier / El Trapero (The Ragpicker), depicting an old man burdened by a rag basket on his shoulders. The following year, he submitted three works: Les Ignorés, Héroes Anónimos, and Desherados (Disinherited), which depicted a funeral procession. Of Les Ignorés, he wrote to Rizal: “To my painting of the funeral, I gave the title Les Ignorés, and as you must have noted, I now give attention to the humble and disinherited.” These three works earned him the respect of the Société and gave him honors, including exclusive membership in the group, which also accorded him the privilege of sitting in screening committees and in the jury for painting competitions. Luna said to Rizal that this milestone was "an appointment I did not expect." He was also granted the special privilege of submitting as many as ten paintings without undergoing the thorough jury process. Through his admission to the Société, Luna was not anymore an outsider; he became an exclusive member of a prime art circle in a city revered as the very center of artistic gravity. It was in this milieu that Luna painted La Majordoma. The work at hand depicts an old majordome, the head servant of a French household. Luna endows the lady with dignified elegance through his smooth brushwork and muted shades of grey, a color traditionally associated with wisdom and richness. The work comes from a series of Luna paintings, in which he manifested his preference for depicting the affairs of the masses' everyday living and the unwanted consequences of the Industrial Revolution on workers’ and people’s rights, as opposed to the romantic grandiosity of portraying defining events and personalities in history and gaining inspiration from the literature and art of the Classical Era of Greek and Roman splendor. Like the narrative of the people's history or "history from below," Luna at this time deeply identified with an "art from below." There exists a thematically similar work titled Head of a Laborer, also painted in 1890 and now in the collection of the Lopez Memorial Museum. Luna’s social realist period as a reflection of his Filipino Nationalist Ideals In this period of stylistic and thematic change for Luna, he found an affinity in reading socialist-themed literature, such as Les Misérables by Victor Hugo and Le Socialisme Contemporain, an anthology edited by Emile de Laveleye and reproduced in its pages the writings of none other than the great Karl Marx and prominent Catholic socialists. In a letter to Rizal, Luna wrote that he had been searching for "a book stressing the miseries of contemporary society, a kind of Divine Comedy, with a Dante taking a walk through shops where one can hardly breathe, and where he would see men, children, and women in the most wretched state imaginable." Luna had also been thinking of a subject for a monumental painting that would encapsulate his newfound ideals. He asked Rizal, “What book would you advise me to read to inspire me? By someone who has written against this naked materialism and this infamous exploitation of the poor, the struggle of the rich with the wretched! I am looking for a subject worthy to be developed on a canvas of eight meters.” Luna would also share with Rizal about his visit to a French iron foundry, where he encountered the miserable conditions of the workers. He wrote, "I was there three or four minutes, and it seemed that I had swallowed sand and dust all my life. They penetrated my nose, mouth, and eyes…and to think that those wretches breathed coal and dust twelve hours of each day! I believe that they are infallibly condemned to death, and that it is a crime to abandon such people." The sight strengthened Luna's empathy for the proletarian class. La Majordoma, a social realist portrait of a French Proletarian I t was in this milieu that Luna painted La Majordoma. The work at hand depicts an old majordome, the head servant of a French household. Luna endows the lady with dignified elegance through his smooth brushwork and muted shades of grey, a color traditionally associated with wisdom and richness. The work comes from a series of Luna paintings, in which he manifested his preference for depicting the affairs of the masses' everyday living and the unwanted consequences of the Industrial Revolution on workers’ and people’s rights, as opposed to the romantic grandiosity of portraying defining events and personalities in history and gaining inspiration from the literature and art of the Classical Era of Greek and Roman splendor. Like the narrative of the people's history or "history from below," Luna at this time deeply identified with an "art from below." There exists a thematically similar work titled Head of a Laborer, also painted in 1890 and now in the collection of the Lopez Memorial Museum. Luna's social realist period would climax in the now-lost masterpiece Peuple et Rois (People and Kings), painted from 1891 to 1892 and portrayed the desecration of the French royal tombs in the Cathedral of St. Denis by the revolutionaries of the French Revolution of 1830 (the "Second French Revolution"). In a way, Peuple et Rois echoed the anti-friar sentiments of the ilustrados. Although European in form and subject, Luna espoused and imparted in La Majordoma a sense of dignity to his fellow natives in the Philippine motherland, which had been deemed morally, culturally, socially, and ethnically inferior to their peninsular counterparts. In these European images of the working class, and with an art further strengthened by his recognition in the European expositions, Luna hoped to endow his fellow countrymen with the utmost sense of national pride, especially within their historically crucial milieu of the Filipinos' endeavor in the formation of a shared national identity that is crucial for the struggle for eventual independence.
The Old Man signed (lower right), Rome, undated, c . 1878 - 1885 charcoal on paper 23 1/2” x 18” (60 cm x 46 cm) PROVENANCE: Heirs of Don Alejo Vera Private Collection, Manila León Gallery, The Spectacular Mid-Year Auction 2017, Makati City, 6 October 2017, Lot 83 *THIS LOT IS SOLD TO BENEFIT THE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL MANILA In 1878, Juan Luna decamped from Spain, feeling that he had learned all that he could from the Royal Academy of the Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid — and to follow his professor, Alejo Vera y Estaca (1834 - 1921) to Rome. Alejo Vera had, in fact, “obtained a position at the newly-created ‘Spanish Academy’ in Rome” and furthermore, had quite a few portrait commissions awaiting him. He recruited his star pupil Luna to join him in the Italian capital. From Vera, Luna would learn a fascination for Pompeii; (many of these paintings from this locale are now at the Philippine National Museum.) More importantly, he would be influenced by the refined historical style of his mentor, that would allow him to eventually best the European salons’ criteria for classical themes with his works “Death of Cleopatra” and “Spoliarium.” Luna would take up residence in Rome at 33 Via Margutta, in the artist’s colony in that address. His neighbors and friends were other artists and they would sketch and draw the many colorful characters in this bohemian neighborhood. This charcoal portrait of the old man is signed, “Luna, Roma” and at the top catalogued with “Juan Luna y Novicio, Pensionado”, the usual description to works submitted by Luna as part of the conditions of his scholarship from the Manila Academia. (Luna’s scholarship provided for a year at the Madrid academy and a second year anywhere in Europe; in Luna’s case, Rome.) More interestingly, on the reverse, is another unfinished portrait of a gentleman and beneath it the words “Propiedad de mi abuelo Alejo Vera” (Property of my grandfather Alejo Vera), and an unreadable signature, P —. The sketch’s features happen to have a resemblance to Vera. An equally tantalizing connection is to a photo of Luna, circa 1889 to 1890. By this time, Luna had become the toast of the European salons. Luna arrived in Paris in 1885, fresh from his triumph for ‘Spoliarium’ at the Madrid exposition the previous year. He had painted that opus while in Rome, where he had spent over 5 years soaking in the atmosphere of the Eternal City and perfecting the vivid style that would make him famous. In the photograph of his studio is ‘Aesop’, c. 1881, hanging between an elaborately-curtained door and a suit of armor. The original ‘Aesop’ (c. 1638) was commissioned by King Philip IV of Spain for his hunting lodge but by the 1800s hung in the Prado, where Luna would have gone to study these and other works by Diego Velasquez. To the left of Luna is another painting of the Roman wedding ritual, ‘Hymen o Hymenee’, created in 1889 and entered in the Universal Exposition of Paris of the same year. (It received a bronze medal.) On the easel is a portrait of a white-haired and bearded gentleman. It is a finished work, having been set into a ornate frame. One can read his signature on the bottom right, less readable is a longer dedication, which suggests this painting may be one of a friend. The work at hand is perhaps a study for this portrait; united by Luna’s verve and painstaking eye for detail.
Untitled signed (lower right) watercolor on paper 4 1/2” x 7 1/2” (11 cm x 19 cm) PROVENANCE: Estate of the artist; Andres Luna de San Pedro Mrs. Grace Luna de San Pedro Mrs. Elizabeth Troster Mrs. Ruth Francis Mario Alcantara (The majority of the collection was purchased by Far East Bank and Trust Company and later on donated to the National Museum of the Philippines) León Gallery, The Magnificent September Auctions 2018, Makati City, 8 September 2018, Lot 19. Juan Luna’s watercolor sketches, even in its simplicity, belies the vigor he has as a realist. Like many artists, Luna worked in quick, random sketches, eager to jot down the simplest of landscapes on sketch pads and scrap papers, and notes on the interplay of light and shadow, such as he has done in this untitled piece. With the horizon clear in the distance, Luna portrays a calm afternoon in the plaza square, a beautiful image that could be the nexus of a full- blown concept, event, painting, or sculpture. The whole corpus of Luna’s sketches includes a magnificent view of late 19th-century Europe where even the seemingly random figures are emblematic of their social status. As E. Aguilar Cruz wrote in 1975: “Even Luna’s most casual oil sketches during his Paris period cannot conceal the vigor of his style as a realist.” (Hannah Valiente)
Juan Luna Y Novicio, Philippine, French, 1857 to 1899, watercolor on paper, portrait painting. The painting depicts a woman in a long white dress. Additionally inscribed, on the backside. Signed lower left. Matted and framed. Juan Luna Y Novicio is known for Aristocratic female figures, portraits, nudes and landscape painting. Juan Luna de San Pedro y Novicio Ancheta 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. One of a kind artwork.
Juan Luna y Novicio (Filipino, 1857-1899), portrait, pencil on paper, signed L/R and dated 1882, 24" x 18", framed 27" x 21". Provenance: Westbury, New York collection.
Ecce Homo (“Behold the Man”) or El Cristo de la Paciencia (The Christ of Patience) signed (lower right) ca. 1896 - 1897 oil on canvas 43" x 27" (109 cm x 69 cm) PROVENANCE A gift from the artist to the Spanish auditor-general Don Nicolas de la Peña upon his release from prison in Fort Santiago. LITERATURE Cultura Social (monthly magazine), May 1914, Manila. Black and white illustration identifying it as “Cuadro de Luna” on the cover as well as on page 231. Filipinas Heritage Library Collection. WRITE UP: Nicolás de la Peña Cuéllar was born in Trujillo, (Cáceres) on February 21, 1852. He studied law and graduated in administrative law at the Central University (Madrid). He entered the army on May 12, 1875, obtained a position by competitive examination, and from January 12, 1878 until 1881 was lieutenant auditor of third class in the Captaincy General of the Balearic Islands. He soon became a prosecuting attorney of the Supreme Council of War and Navy. By then, Nicolás de la Peña, despite being barely 30 years old, had achieved two honorable decorations: Knight of Isabella the Catholic and Commander of Charles III De la Peña left his post on February 1, 1899 and was sent to Cartagena as a court-martial advisor to the army. Earlier, on December 15, 1898, a few months after the capitulation, he signed a prologue to the memoir La Campaña de la escuadra norteamericana en Filipinas (Cartagena, 1899), in which he accused the United States of not having respected international law and Spanish politicians of the war disaster. However, he made no mention of his execrable role in the process against Rizal. In 1910 he was a senator of the Spanish Cortes for the province of Valladolid for the Liberal Party. By then he was already an academician of Jurisprudence and Legislation in Madrid. He must have died shortly after, as it is no longer possible to find news of him. There is perhaps no better metaphor for Juan Luna’s frame of mind in 1896 than this portrait of ‘The Patient Christ’, waiting for his fate to be decided while he languished in Fort Santiago. Would it be long years of imprisonment or even execution? Luna had just narrowly escaped the guillotine in France, accused of the death of his wife Paz Pardo de Tavera. He had been imprisoned in September 1892 and had only been found innocent, by reason of his “savage temperament,” only in the following year in February. He had withdrawn to Madrid to forget those unpleasant circumstances and then returned to Manila in his home country in 1894 with this younger brother Antonio, hoping to recuperate and find his lost happiness. It was to be a bittersweet respite, however, punctuated by the brothers Luna opening a fencing school, Juan Luna’s side trip to Japan and then, his return immediately after the discovery of the Katipunan and the first Katipunan’s battle of Pinaglabanan. Juan and Antonio were to be swept up and arrested in the dragnet unleashed by these events and thrown into the Spanish dungeons. Wrote M. Arias y Rodriguez (1850-1924) of Luna's prison cell, a miserable state of affairs : "The dungeon consisted of a small room about three meters long by two and a half wide: a meter from the floor was a wooden floorboard that occupied the entire cell to avoid the high humidity of the floor, located at a level lower than the patio. In front of the front door there was a square window with light iron bars. The half-bleached walls had an unequal surface, almost like a rough stone, and the innumerable holes and cracks on them showed that they had not been repaired for a long time." (This report appeared in La Ilustracion Artistica, 6 August 1900 and was reproduced by Lib Ramos along with the accompanying photograph.) He noted, however, that Luna was able to have "books, colors and brushes" and thus, "for his pastime or leisure, [Luna] adorned the rough walls of the so-called dungeon with his works." Despite these privileges, Luna must surely have suffered grievously from this second round of false accusations and imprisonment. While the colonial government and the friars were suspicious of all foreign-educated Filipinos — calling them “filibusterismos” — both brothers were in fact completely innocent of the accusation that they had participated in the armed revolt. Once more, Luna would call upon the friendships made in Madrid with the highest echelons of the Spanish court and he would receive a pardon on May 27th, 1897, on the occasion of King Alfonso XIII’s birthday 10 days earlier. “Ecce Homo” would be a gift to Don Nicolas de la Peña, auditor-general of the Spanish Army and the man whose duties included recommending that Jose Rizal be brought to trial. He would, in fact, sign the sentence that would be read to Rizal on December 29th. The importance of this man would not be lost on Juan Luna and de la Pena’s descendants would note that Luna himself would give the painting the name “El Cristo de la Paciencia.” In the work at hand, Luna paints a powerful portrait of “Ecce Homo”, so called after the ironic words of Pontius Pilate as he presented Jesus Christ to the jeering mob. “El Cristo de la Paciencia” sits with two hands bound in front of him, helpless but steadfast; His face is bruised and wounded by the beatings of the Roman soldiers. He remains cloaked, however, in the white of purity and innocence. On His head, three rays represent His Godliness, as does the halo. The painting thus presents two meanings : The first, an account of Juan Luna and his sufferings; but also, more importantly, perhaps, a coded message of defiance of the innocence of Jose Rizal. Rizal after all would meet his fate and glory at the firing squad a few months earlier at the very hands of the Spanish government, represented by Don Nicolas de la Peña.
Juan Luna y Novicio (Filipino, 1857-1899) study of a male nude from the back, in black and white chalk (?) on paper, signed lower right. [Art: 24" H x 15" W; Frame: 32" H x 24" W]. Water damage upper left.
Juan Luna y Novicio (Badoc, Filipinas, 1857 - Hong-Kong, 1899) 'Copy of Ribera's Saint Andres' Oil on canvas. Signed, dated and situated in Madrid, 1881. In it's original and imposing carved and gilded wooden frame. 106,5 x 69,5 cm.
JUAN LUNA Y NOVICIO Badoc, Philippines 1857 - Hong Kong 1899 allegory study pencil drawing on paper Measures 290 X 375 mm With the artist's stamp: "JUAN LUNA Y NOVICIO PENSIONADO".
JUAN LUNA AND NOVICE Badoc, Philippines 1857 - Hong Kong 1899 man portrait studies Charcoal drawing on paper Measures 118 x 99mm; 120x95mm Framed With artist's stamp.
JUAN LUNA Y NOVICIO (Badoc, Philippines, 1857 - Hong Kong, 1899). "Souvenir of the Battle of Lepanto ", 1887. Oil on canvas. Re-lined Signed, titled, dedicated to Vicente Romero Girón and dated in the lower left corner. Measurements: 20 x 19 cm; 52 x 48 cm (frame). Juan Luna's epic paintings were celebrated internationally, and it was "The Battle of Lepanto" (in homage to the Christian victory over the Ottomans in 1571) which brought him the greatest fame. In the same year in which he painted the historical theme of this naval battle (a commission from the Spanish Senate to the distinguished Philippine painter), he executed the portrait in question. As the dedication says, it is part of the same theme. Although it does not coincide exactly with any of the figures in the final painting, it has notable similarities with the main protagonists of the naval battle, as he would eventually conceive it. Firstly, we have John of Austria (of whom he made various preparatory drawings, and who in the final painting is placed at the bow of the ship, captaining the Christian fleet), wearing a helmet topped with a plume of feathers, with an aristocratic profile and a trimmed moustache, similar to the present figure. However, it is more likely that this is a self-portrait, as Juan Luna included himself among the sailors in Philip II's army (which also included Cervantes). Indeed, his features coincide with those of the personage who in the official commission wears a dalmatic and helmet. The fact that he is included as part of such a victorious feat attests (the royal galley sinking the Turkish galleon) to the self-esteem Juan de Luna owed to himself, and also to the pre-eminent place he enjoyed not only in the Spanish sphere, but also internationally. In the present portrait, we see the sitter in profile, looking straight ahead, with a fragment of sail breaking the composition diagonally, and his gaze straight ahead leads us to imagine his complacency at the enemy's shipwreck. "The Battle of Lepanto", a symbol of the Catholic triumph against the invading forces, was intended for the Senate Conference Room. In technique and style, we can appreciate the broad, vibrant, undone brushstroke characteristic of the Filipino painter, a language close to Impressionism but inscribed in a realism of naturalistic tone. Juan Luna trained at the Ateneo de la Compañía de Manila, where he was taught by Agustín Saéz. He entered the Academy of Fine Arts in the same city, where he was a disciple of Lorenzo Guerrero. In 1877 he was awarded a scholarship by the Manila City Council which enabled him to move to Madrid to further his training at the San Fernando School of Fine Arts. In the Spanish capital he became a pupil of Alejo Vera and travelled with him to Rome when the latter was appointed director of the Spanish Academy in that city. He subsequently settled in Paris, where he opened his own studio. He received important institutional commissions, among them the one he received in 1887 from the Spanish Senate, "The Battle of Lepanto". The Ministry of Overseas France commissioned another work from him, a composition representing Spain and the Philippines. Luna also took part in numerous official exhibitions, being awarded a second medal for "Cleopatra" at the National Fine Arts Exhibition of 1881 and a first medal for "Spoliarium" at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts of 1884. He also exhibited his works abroad, and in fact sent his canvases to the Paris Salon of 1886, where he was awarded the third medal. Two years later, in 1888, he was awarded a second medal at the Universal Exhibition in Barcelona. He took part in the Universal Exhibition in Paris, where he was awarded the third medal. Juan Luna's works are currently represented in important art centres such as the Prado Museum, the National Museum of the Philippines, the Cádiz Town Hall, the Captaincy General of Seville, the Government Delegation of the Basque Country, etc.
Oil on canvas Signed in the lower right corner There are reports that Luna painted an Ecce Homo when he was imprisoned in Manila for eight months with his brother Antonio, accused by the Spanish authorities of sedition in the revolution of 1996. According to the present owners, this work was a gift from Luna to his great-grandfather for the help he received for his release, and which Luna entitled "Christ of Patience", according to the version of the family heir. His ancestor was an auditor general in the Spanish army in the Philippines from 1896, in fact, he was one of those who signed the capitulation of Manila to the US troops. Reference Bibliography: Guerrero, L.M., "Glorias españolas y filipinas. The Philippine painter Juan Luna and Galdosian trials". ABC, 30 June 1962. 110 x 70 cm
Juan Luna y Novicio (Badoc, Filipinas, 1857-Hong Kong, 1899) Ángel. Dibujo a lápiz sobre papel. Firmado. 41 x 31 cm. Inicialmente estudió en el ambiente de los jesuitas en el Ateneo Municipal, aprovechaba todo lo posible sus horas de ocio para ver y aprender pintura. Finalmente, mientras estudiaba pintura, también estudió para piloto en la escuela naval de Manila, llegando a trabajar como marinero y realizando varios viajes. Estos viajes le permitieron conocer otras ciudades y culturas. No obstante, sus periodos de regreso los aprovechaba para seguir formándose en la pintura, lo que le llevó hasta el estudio del pintor español Agustín Sáez Glanadell, activo en Manila. Lorenzo Guerrero era una personalidad que había reconocido el talento de Juan y se convirtió en su tutor. Llegó a convencer a sus padres para que lo enviaran a estudiar a España y el año 1877 viajó a Barcelona en compañía de su hermano Manuel, que era violinista. En España se inscribió inicialmente en la Escuela de Bellas Artes de San Fernando de Madrid. Allí entabló contacto con Eduardo Rosales. Posteriormente a la muerte de este, fue discípulo de Alejo Vera, con el cual marchó a Roma donde permaneció varios años estudiando los maestros del Renacimiento y realizando obras muy importantes de su carrera. El año 1894 regresó definitivamente a su tierra. Influido por el peso de la obra de Rosales, su obra se inicia en un estilo realista, aunque sus pinceladas, amplias, deshechas e indefinidas, le acercarían a la estética innovadora de fin de siglo en el último periodo de su vida. Su actividad en Roma con Alejo Vera le llevó a interesarse por la iconografía de la Antigüedad clásica, aunque después, durante la década de los noventa y coincidiendo con su estancia en París y su participación en el proceso independentista de su país, orientó su mirada hacia un mundo cotidiano y más contemporáneo.
Juan Luna y Novicio (Badoc, Filipinas, 1857-Hong Kong, 1899) Ángel. Dibujo a lápiz sobre papel. Firmado. 41 x 31 cm. Inicialmente estudió en el ambiente de los jesuitas en el Ateneo Municipal, aprovechaba todo lo posible sus horas de ocio para ver y aprender pintura. Finalmente, mientras estudiaba pintura, también estudió para piloto en la escuela naval de Manila, llegando a trabajar como marinero y realizando varios viajes. Estos viajes le permitieron conocer otras ciudades y culturas. No obstante, sus periodos de regreso los aprovechaba para seguir formándose en la pintura, lo que le llevó hasta el estudio del pintor español Agustín Sáez Glanadell, activo en Manila. Lorenzo Guerrero era una personalidad que había reconocido el talento de Juan y se convirtió en su tutor. Llegó a convencer a sus padres para que lo enviaran a estudiar a España y el año 1877 viajó a Barcelona en compañía de su hermano Manuel, que era violinista. En España se inscribió inicialmente en la Escuela de Bellas Artes de San Fernando de Madrid. Allí entabló contacto con Eduardo Rosales. Posteriormente a la muerte de este, fue discípulo de Alejo Vera, con el cual marchó a Roma donde permaneció varios años estudiando los maestros del Renacimiento y realizando obras muy importantes de su carrera. El año 1894 regresó definitivamente a su tierra. Influido por el peso de la obra de Rosales, su obra se inicia en un estilo realista, aunque sus pinceladas, amplias, deshechas e indefinidas, le acercarían a la estética innovadora de fin de siglo en el último periodo de su vida. Su actividad en Roma con Alejo Vera le llevó a interesarse por la iconografía de la Antigüedad clásica, aunque después, durante la década de los noventa y coincidiendo con su estancia en París y su participación en el proceso independentista de su país, orientó su mirada hacia un mundo cotidiano y más contemporáneo.
Juan Luna y Novicio (Badoc, Filipinas, 1857-Hong-Kong, 1899) "Figuras".Dos dibujos a carboncillo sobre papel en anverso y reverso. Firmado. 17 x 23 cm.
JUAN LUNA Y NOVICIO (1857-1899). Oil on canvas Signed & dedicated to Al Sr. D. Miguel Morayta" de su amigo Luna. The Philipino painter and watercolourist began his training in Manila, where his family had moved in 1961, to then complete it in Spain, Rome, & Paris where he finally decided to set up his studio next to his the already famous Philipino painter Félix Resurrección Hidalgo. There followed innumerable institutional commisions as well as awards and homages. He took part in many exhibitions, winning second place in the Nacional de Bellas Artes of 1881 for his “Cleopatra” & first place in 1884 his famous “Spoliarium”. He was one of the first Philipino painters to win international fame as well as an undisputed position amongst the Philipino artists of the C19th. He became linked with the masonic lodge, Solidaridad nº53, del Gran Oriente Español, thanks to which he established a friendship with D. Miguel Moraytsa, a man of considerable political importance during the First Republic, to whom he dedicated the work which we now present. Despìte being recognised for the historical and allegorical themes of his painting, from 1885 -1890 Luna completed a series of portraits of female workers from the poorer quarters of Madrid, where he displayed a much lighter impressionistic brush. Amongst which series of “Chulas” we can place this work. 71 x 49 cm; 92 x 68cm. (frame).
The only surviving child of the artist and his wife Andres, called Luling, was the saving grace of a relationship. Luna depicts his son, dressed in the inspired attire of the late 19th Century bourgeoisie, with tenderness and utter affection. Literature: Terra, Jun. Juan Luna Drawings: The Paris Period From the Collection of Dr. Eleuterio M. Pascual. (Dr. Eleuterio M. Pascual Publishing House, 1998) p.115
JUAN LUNA Y NOVICIO Badoc, Philippines 1857 - Hong-Kong 1899 “Ciociaro. 1884” Oil on canvas Signed and dated in Rome Measurements 45.5 x 38.4 cm Origin: - Important collection of Lima, Peru. - Private collection, Madrid. This work belongs to a small group of portraits of quick and vibrant brushstrokes made in nature when the Filipino artist enjoyed a scholarship to study at the Academia Española de Bellas Artes in Rome (1878-1884). The Shepherd Boy painting (oil on canvas, 48.5 x 39 cm) auctioned at Sotheby's Singapore in April 2005 presents the same stylistic characteristics of Ciociaro. In both works the pictorial treatment denotes a great economy of means solved by an energetic but accurate brushstrokes that are circumscribed only to the represented model, leaving part of the ends of the canvas unpainted. In the Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes of 1884 in Madrid he obtains a first class medal with the work Spolarium (National Museum of the Philippines, Manila) with great public and critical success that supposed the definitive takeoff to his career.
LUNA Y NOVICIO, JUAN (1857 - 1900). "Hércules". Dibujo. 28 x 38 cm. Firmado en el ángulo inferior derecho. En la parte superior izquierda : "Juan Luna y Novicio: Pensionado." y titulado "Boceto 3".
LUNA Y NOVICIO, JUAN (1857 - 1900). "Desnudo femenino". Dibujo. 29 x 38,5 cm. Firmado en el ángulo inferior derecho. En el ángulo superior izquierdo "Juan Luna y Novicio: Pensionado".
LUNA Y NOVICIO, JUAN (1857 - 1900). "Anciano romano". Dibujo. 59 x 44 cm. Firmado y localizado "Roma" en el ángulo inferior derecho. En el ángulo superior izquierdo "Juan Luna y Novicio: Pensionado".
LUNA Y NOVICIO, JUAN (1857 - 1900). "Teresa de Ávila". Dibujo a lápiz sobre cartulina. 41 x 29 cm. Firmado Luna en el ángulo inferior derecho, titulado y fechado 1880. En la parte superior: Juan Luna y Novicio Pensionado. Papel con tres pequeños cortes en el borde.
Juan Luna y Novicio Academia Masculina This elegant male nude of Luna demonstrations his foundation in formal art techniques with his detailed molding of the human form, soft chiaroscuro and a balanced composition. Undated (Circa 1879) 42 x 56 cm (16 1/2 x 22 in) Charcoal on paper mounted on cardboard
Juan Luna y Novicio ¿A Do...Va la Nave? FROM PARIS TO CORDOBA TO MANILA: THE JOURNEY OF ¿A DO...VA LA NAVE? The present owner of ¿A Do...Va la Nave? acquired the painting by descent from his grandmother, Maria Alberta Esther Susana Pignocchi-Bonaldi. Her husband Jose Domingo Bonaldi, whose grandfather was the first vice consul of Italy to Argentina, received it as a gift from his business associate Goar Mestre, a media tycoon who fled his home country of Cuba upon the triumph of Fidel Castro and the Communist Revolution. Deciding to settle in Buenos Aires in 1959, Mestre then pioneered the television and mass communication industry in Argentina. Known as the “Czar of Television” by the Argentines, Mestre associated with the likes of President Juan Domingo and First Lady Evita Peron. Mestre and Bonaldi, who were close friends, together established the first local TV station in Cordoba, Canal 13. The elements of family and friendship that are interlaced in the story of this painting have become part of the fabric of ¿A Do...Va la Nave?. Tracing the history of the painting led the specialist team at Salcedo Auctions to explore Luna’s ties to either Cuba or Argentina, as it is unknown where Mestre first got hold of the painting (telephone interview by the current owner with Ana Maria Mestre Martinez, daughter of Goar Mestre, Buenos Aires, April 2015). One plausible connection is through Felix Pardo de Tavera, the brother of Luna’s ill-fated wife Paz, who settled in Buenos Aires with his Argentinian wife Agustina Manigot and worked there both as a physician and as a sculptor (Pardo de Tavera’s bust portrait of the patriot Gen. Jose de San Martin is installed in the presidential palace of Casa Rosada). But considering the bad blood between Luna and the Pardo de Taveras - it was known that the family consequently destroyed all of his work in their possession - could this painting have been spared and crossed the Atlantic, later to be acquired by Mestre? Another theory that was investigated was Luna’s association with Spanish officials who had travelled between the Philippines, Spain, and Cuba. This included Ramón Blanco, Spanish Governor General of the Philippines (1893-96), and thereafter Captain General of Cuba (1897-98), whose portrait Luna had painted. Known for his conciliatory position towards the Filipino reformists, and for his friendship with the artist and Dr. Jose Rizal, could he have brought ¿A Do...Va la Nave? to Cuba? The complexities that surround the origins ¿A Do...Va la Nave? make this painting extremely important in the annals of Philippine art. The questions that it raises are of special significances to the study of Luna’s oeuvres. From its creation in Paris, to its finding a home over three generations in Cordoba, to the many possible paths it has travelled along the way, it is highly likely that this is the first time that ¿A Do...Va la Nave? has reached the shores of Juan Luna’s motherland. As a treasured heirloom representing the bond of family, Salcedo Auctions is extremely privileged to be given the opportunity to bring ¿A Do...Va la Nave? back to the Philippines. The multiplicity of meanings intertwined with its enigmatic past make it a true gem of 19th century Philippine painting that will surpass, and continue to exceed, any limitations of border, culture or time. Painted one year after Spoliarium garnered Juan Luna a gold medal in the 1884 Madrid Exposition of Fine Art, a signal achievement that raised the profile of the Filipino artist and, by extension, the reform movement on the international stage, this ravishing oil on canvas signed and dated ‘LVNA Paris 1885’ was thought to have been lost until its incredible discovery early this year in the central Argentinian city of Cordoba. The location and dimensions of ¿A Do...Va la Nave? were indicated as unknown in the seminal book on the artist published by the Eugenio Lopez Foundation in 1980, the only record of its existence being a reproduction in the 31 May 1886 edition of the Barcelona-based literary journal Ilustracion Artistica of an engraving based on the artwork by M. Weber. Created at the start of what would become a nine-year stay by Luna in the French capital, this allegorical work can be considered as an important transitional opus. Here, the artist reveals a more relaxed approach to subject matter as he shifts from the strict academic formalism of the Salon with its proclivity for grand historical scenes, and moves to more intimate genre scenes and a style that would be influenced by the tail-end of French Impressionism. This painterly candor was perhaps Luna’s way of encapsulating the frenetic energy of the city, where an increasingly successful artist such as he could be better exposed to leading dealers and collectors, and have the freedom of creative experimentation. In a way, Paris represented, in the words of the social historian Racquel A.G. Reyes, “emancipation.” “[B]y the late 19th century [it] had become the focus of new modes of learning, thinking, and living. It was, to paraphrase Victor Hugo’s vivid description in his epigraph to Zola’s Paris, the ship of human Progress.” It is perhaps no coincidence then that ¿A Do...Va la Nave? shows a skiff bobbing along a turquoise sea. The passengers of the boat consist of six elegantly garbed women in evening dress sitting languidly, with the one perched highest presumably Luna’s most favored model, the distinguished looking and voluptuous Angela Duche. One of the women appears to be a bride, face concealed by a veil, while another carefree maiden swathed in chiffon stretches close to the edge, her inverted, comely countenance gazing teasingly at the spectator. What is curious here is that the women far outnumber the two men on the boat, the younger one dressed as a soldier sitting near the bow surrounded by the ladies, the other older gentleman seeming to be sketching alone on the stern. It is a wonder that the vessel has not capsized given the uneven distribution of the passengers. What does this curious scene all mean? The title of the painting borrows the coro of an unfinished 1841 poem by Jose de Espronceda, a 19th century Spanish Romantic poet, the lines speaking of the uncertainty of the sea: “Y alla va la nave; Quien sabe do va? [And there goes the ship; Who knows where it will go?] La Ilustracion Artistica interprets the picture of the boat moving into an unknown horizon, the grey clouds clearing into pinkish wisps of sky, the colors reflected in the beauteous costumes of the passengers boldly confident in the face of possible danger, as youthful hubris. Luna’s interest in romanticism, however, as evidenced by his reference to Espronceda may point to the artist’s exploration of an even more elusive artistic ideal—the lifelong search for the sublime. Another way of reading the painting is that of Luna, the ilustrado male, coming to terms with modern femininity. Belle Epoque Paris presented a challenge to the artist’s traditional view of women as reticent and subservient. Here, we see the artist as the young gentleman surrounded by fashionable and flirtatious muses whose pink cheeks, fulsome bosoms, and alabaster corporeality created an overpowering allure that presumably Luna found, much like the ship drifting into uncharted territory, difficult to control. He is, likewise, the old sage at the stern surveying the scene, his wisdom outweighing folly, staying the course and keeping the boat on even keel. There is a surprising addition in the La Ilustracion engraving that is clearly absent in the painting: a seventh woman who has fallen off the boat – a moralizing commentary perhaps by the artist. Tests on ¿A Do...Va la Nave? under a UV lamp by a professional conservator did not reveal any pentimento of this seventh woman. One can speculate, therefore, that the disparity between the reproduction in the publication and the painting as viewers see it today may have stemmed from the original patron of ¿A Do...Va la Nave? requesting Luna to remove the grim image not long after it was completed such that the pigment, which was used to replace it, underwent the same aging process as the rest of the paint layer. Literature: La Ilustracion Artistica, Numero 231, Ano V, 31 de Mayo de 1886, pp. 192-93 Santiago Albano Pilar, Juan Luna The Filipino as Painter (Pasig: Eugenio Lopez Foundation, Inc., 1980), pp. 90–91 Raquel A.G. Reyes, Love, Passion and Patriotism: Sexuality and the Philippine Propaganda Movement, 1882-1892 (University of Washington Press, 2008), pp. 39-67 1885 55 x 104 cm (21 1/2 x 41 in) Oil on canvas
Fabian de la Rosa was Director of the University of the Philippines School of Fine Arts from 1927-37. Referred to by art historians as a 'master of genre' for his depiction of landscapes and quotidian scenes, he trained under Agustin Saez at the Escuela de Bellas Artes, as well as Lorenzo Guerrero and Miguel Zaragoza. De la Rosa also trained in Paris, and later undertook a European tour, exhibiting his work at the Ateneo de Madrid in 1928. This rare surviving work, which is signed and dated lower right, is also inscribed with a dedication on the lower left. It shares its provenance with Juan Luna y Novicio's A Farm House.
