JUAN LUNA Y NOVICIO

BOCETO FOR ‘SPOLIARIUM’

 AUCTION
Sat 22 September 2018, 2pm

Rigodon Ballroom, The Peninsula Manila

PREVIEW
Thu 13 - Fri 21 September 2018, 10am - 6pm
The Gallery, Level 3, The Peninsula Manila
JUAN LUNA Y NOVICIO

TABLE OF CONTENTS

14 Introduction

22 The Glorious March Through History

24 Lost and Found

26 The Boceto

32 The Writing on the Canvas: Signs and Symbols

34 A Question of Style

36 Journey of the Boceto

38 A Sweet Discovery

42 The Sárria Connection

44 Documentary Evidence of the Existence of the Boceto

48 Condition Report and Analysis

54 Conclusion

56 Acknowledgements and Endnotes

4 IMPORTANT PHILIPPINE ART

Juan Luna y Novicio
(1857-1899)
“In the history of nations, there are names that by
themselves signify an achievement, that bring to
mind affections and greatness...’

- Dr. José Rizal

Property from a Private European Collection

JUAN LUNA Y NOVICIO (1857-1899)

Boceto for ‘Spoliarium’
1883
Oil on canvas
Signed ‘SPOLIARIVM = boceto = LVNA R1883’
on the lower right corner
144.5 x 74 cm (56 3/4 x 29 1/4 in)

Estimate upon Request

JUAN LUNA Y NOVICIO

PROVENANCE EXHIBITION
Possibly acquired from the artist by Madrid, Museo Arqueológico Nacional,
Don Matías López y López, Exposición Histórico-Natural y Etnográfica,
President of the Spanish Committee, Sala XIII: Sala de Filipinas, 1893
1889 Universal Exposition, Paris, through whom
the painting, together with La Pintura, an oil
on canvas by Félix Resurrección Hidalgo, was
possibly brought to Sárria, Province of Lugo,
LITERATURE
Spain, where it was possibly acquired from the
above or from his heirs by La Exposición Histórico-Natural y Etnográfica de
1893. Madrid: Ministerio de Educacion, Cultura, y
Don Xosé Vázquez Castiñeira, Deporte, 2017. Foto No. 18, pp. 152-153
Mayor of Sárria, Province of Lugo, Spain or by
his son “Exposición Histórico-Natural y Etnográfica.”
La Ilustracion Ibérica (Madrid). June 10, 1893,
Don Francisco Vázquez Gayoso, 11th ed., pp. 358, 367
Sárria, Province of Lugo, Spain, thence inherited
by his wife Breve Noticia de la Exposición Histórico-Natural
y Etnográfica de Madrid. Madrid: Sucesores de
Doña Maria Nuñez Rodriguez, Rivadeneyra, 1893, pp. 38-40
Sárria, Province of Lugo, Spain, thence, their
union being without issue, bequeathed by
descent to

Private collector, Europe

12 IMPORTANT PHILIPPINE ART

JUAN LUNA Y NOVICIO
JUAN LUNA: PRELUDE TO GREATNESS
INTRODUCTION
I n the pantheon of Philippine artists,
Juan Luna y Novicio (1857-1899) sits at the
pinnacle, his position of reverence and exaltation
held secure by what is widely considered to be his
masterpiece - Spoliarium.
The canvas measuring roughly 4 x 7 meters
(13 x 23 feet) now occupies the largest and most
impressive exhibition hall on the ground floor
of The National Art Gallery, National Museum
of the Philippines - a place of honor suited to a
painting whose monumental size echoes the mythic
proportions it occupies in the minds and hearts of
Filipinos.
14 IMPORTANT PHILIPPINE ART
— Ramon E.S. Lerma
What is it about this work that has brought it such
renown?
Setting aside its scale, we count several factors as
contributors to its abiding legend: the circumstances
of its creation; the accolades it has received; the
symbolism of its cause celebré coupled with the
perceived allegory of its subject matter paralleling
the nascent sentiments of nationalism both in Spain
and in its easternmost colonial outpost; and ultimately
its progenitor’s tempestuous life as both hero and
anti-hero. All of these elements combined into a
heady mixture that would explode on to this oeuvre.
 BOCETO FOR ‘SPOLIARIUM’

Installation view of Spoliarium at the National Art Gallery, National Museum of the Philippines
JUAN LUNA Y NOVICIO
Figure 1. Rembrandt van Rijn, The Nightwatch, 1634.
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Very few works in national collections have achieved
similar stature: this merging of political and art
history in a singular image - one so powerful that it
can be said to ultimately define a people. Holland
has Rembrandt’s The Nightwatch (Figure 1) - the
militia guards dressed in puritanical black and
white a testament to republican civic pride and the
mercantile success of the bourgeoisie. France has
Liberty Leading the People (Figure 2) by Eugène
Delacroix: painted to commemorate the July
Revolution of 1830, it shows arguably the earliest
and undoubtedly the best-known depiction of
Marianne, the woman who symbolizes France [this
same model would be the inspiration behind Frederic
Bartholdi’s Liberty Enlightening the World, better
16 IMPORTANT PHILIPPINE ART
Figure 2. Eugène Delacroix, Liberty Leading the
People, 1830. Louvre Museum, Paris
known today as The Statue of Liberty - the symbol
by which the United States of America stands -
tenuously? - as a beacon of freedom]. Spain’s most
iconic canvasses that define the national psyche
are two: Diego Velázquez’s Las Meninas (Figure 3),
a proud portrait propping up a crumbling empire
vainly pinning its hopes on a dynastic future not
to be; and Pablo Picasso’s Guernica (Figure 4) - a
damning vision of the horrors of war encapsulated in
searing cubist cuts, discordant shapes, and tortured
figures made all the more confronting by their
graphic monochrome palette. In both masterpieces,
melancholy and tragedy ultimately offer the salvific
symbolism of redemption in the eternal, affective
beauty of art.

Figure 3. Diego Velázquez, Las Meninas, 1656.
Prado Museum, Madrid
And then there is the Philippines and Luna’s
Spoliarium. Its subject has been written about many
times: here one sees the figures of bloodied and
beaten gladiators being dragged into the basement
of the Roman Colosseum, where they will be stripped
BOCETO FOR ‘SPOLIARIUM’
Figure 4. Detail of Pablo Picasso, Guernica, 1937.
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid
of their weapons and armor, flanked by jeering
onlookers and leering opportunists angling for spoils.
To the right, in this dimly lit space amidst the carnage
and din, a woman sits alone, bundled in grief.
JUAN LUNA Y NOVICIO

An installation view of Spoliarium at the Madrid Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes illustrated
on the front page of La Ilustración Española y Americana, year XXVIII, no. XX, 30 May 1884

The success of Luna’s Spoliarium, winning a First
Class medal at the 1884 Expocision Nacional de
Bellas Artes in Madrid, together with the Second
Class medal for Félix Resurrección Hidalgo’s Virgenes
Christianas Expuestas al Populacho, was interpreted
by the Filipino ilustrado expatriate community as
milestone achievements, shining exemplars of genius
- the artists being “illustrious sons” to whom are
1
owed the “gratitude of Filipinas.”
The wins bolstered the cause of the Propaganda
Movement, which advocated reform from Spain -
not independence, but rather better treatment as an
intrinsic part of the Motherland, a province whose
citizenry displayed, nay even surpassed the artistic
achievements of their colonial masters.

18 IMPORTANT PHILIPPINE ART

 BOCETO FOR ‘SPOLIARIUM’

The National Hero Dr. José Rizal, who led the

brindis or toast to the victorious artists, would
provide a reading of the painting that would
indelibly tie Spoliarium to a nationalist narrative:

“...from it one can hear the tumult of the throng, the cry of slaves,
the metallic rattle of the armor on the corpses, the sobs of orphans,
the murmurs of prayers, with as much vigor and realism as one
may hear in the crash of thunder amid the roar of waterfalls or the
imposing, irredeemable, and terrible tumble of an earthquake. The
same nature that generates such phenomena is also involved in
those brushstrokes...so in Luna’s are the shadows, the contrasts, the
moribund lights, the mystery, and the terrible, like the resonance
of the dark tempests of the tropics,
2
the lightning and the roaring
eruptions of its volcanoes.”
JUAN LUNA Y NOVICIO
A GLORIOUS MARCH
THROUGH HISTORY
We may not have any first-hand account of Luna’s
motive for painting Spoliarium; but what is clearly
documented is its movement from place to place, a
progress that we would describe as a glorious march
through history.
This trajectory is evidenced from the time Luna started
working on the painting around July 1883 in Rome,
followed by its completion in March 1884, when
it was first shown at the Palazzi della Esposione
on Via Nazionale together with the works of other
Spanish painters in the presence of no less than the
King and Queen of Italy.
Following its victorious Madrid showing in June
1884, the painting followed Luna to Paris in October
of that year.
In 1886, the painting was entered in the academic
salon of the Societé des Artistes Français where it
22 IMPORTANT PHILIPPINE ART
was awarded a Third Class medal. That same year,
it moved from Paris to Barcelona, where it was
exhibited at the Sala Parés, which attracted 60,000
3
people in two days, after which it was purchased by
the Provincial Government of Barcelona for 20.000
pesetas.
Spoliarium was eventually placed in the city’s
Museo de Arte Moderno in 1887, where it remained
in storage until 1958 when it was gifted by the
Spanish dictator Generalissimo Francisco Franco
to the Philippine government. Cut into three parts
to facilitate its transport halfway across the globe,
the mural would then be consolidated and restored
before being exhibited at the Hall of Flags of the
Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila in 1962.
Now displayed in its permanent abode, the colossal
painting continues to enrapture throngs of visitors, its
legendary status assured.
 BOCETO FOR ‘SPOLIARIUM’

A map of Spoliarium’s journey across Europe

JUAN LUNA Y NOVICIO
LOST AND FOUND
Present-day scholarship has clearly established
through graphic illustrations, photographic
reproductions, journalistic records, literature and
such the story of “the nation’s most cherished
4
painting” after its completion.
But what of the time before Luna’s brushstrokes
landed on that monumental canvas? What do we
know about that lost period of its inception - that
seminal time when the artist, touched by the muse,
began to synthesize years of training in academic
technique with thoughts about that imagined scene
set in ancient Rome, when staccato swathes and
frothy impastos of oil paint came together to conjure
up that scene of utter grief and harrowing grandeur?
Spoliarium was surely conceived in Rome, the
offspring of a complex union of circumstance: Luna’s
move to the Eternal City in 1878 as an apprentice
of his mentor-teacher Alejo Vera from Madrid’s
Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando where
he bore witness to the ancient buildings; his reading
of the vivid descriptions of ancient Rome and the
underground vestibules of the Colosseum written in
1835 by Charles Dezobry; the compositional and
24 IMPORTANT PHILIPPINE ART
thematic influence of Vera’s own painting El ultimo
día de Numancia (Figure 1), which won a First
Class medal at the 1881 Expocision in Madrid, the
same year Luna entered his first award-winning work
painted in Rome, Cleopatra, which recently emerged
from the bowels of the Prado and was shown at the
National Gallery Singapore; the death of his favorite
brother Manuel in 1883 which deeply affected him;
5
and of course the preference of such
prix du concours for historic subject matter -
considered a signifier of extraordinary artistic
achievement - a challenge that Luna met with
resounding force and tenor, with preliminary studies
6
for Spoliarium being done as early as 1881.
Beyond this, what more is there to bridge this historic
gap, this chasm of information about the country’s
greatest artist and most celebrated artwork?
The answers to the questions about the origins of
Luna’s magisterial painting are now, at last, starting
to be revealed with the emergence of what may be
considered to be the most important Philippine art
discovery in recent time: the boceto for Spoliarium.
 BOCETO FOR ‘SPOLIARIUM’

Figure 1. Alejo Vera, El ultimo día de Numancia (Numancia), 1880-1881. Prado Museum, Madrid
JUAN LUNA Y NOVICIO
THE BOCETO
The word ‘boceto’ is derived from the Italian term
bozzetto, and translates in English as “sketch” - a
guide that allows an artist to give form to an idea
before arriving at the final result.
In this sense, a boceto is an illustration that does
not go into any detail. Its objective is to symbolize
thoughts or concepts, without worrying about
aesthetics - laying out basic ideas, reproducing
forms with the intention of facilitating the study of
composition and structure that will assist in producing
the final work.
7 changes in hues and tones - qualities that can be
In early 2018, a private European collector contacted
Salcedo Auctions, sending detailed photographs
26 IMPORTANT PHILIPPINE ART
of an oil on canvas painting that on first glance
appeared to be very different stylistically from the
finished Spoliarium (Figure 1).
A side-by-side comparison of sections from the
original painting now at the National Museum
and the artwork that had surfaced showed many
similarities as well as marked differences between
the two oeuvres in terms of brushwork and finish, not
to mention the addition (or subtraction) of details,
the shifting of forms within each composition, and
explained by understanding the nature of the work
that was being presented, the artist having clearly
inscribed this work as a ‘boceto.’ (Figure 2)
 BOCETO FOR ‘SPOLIARIUM’

Figure 1. Spoliarium 1884

Figure 2. Boceto - Spoliarium 1883

JUAN LUNA Y NOVICIO

Figure 3 Figure 4

In this particular group of figures, the chiaroscuro in

the original painting (Figure 3) is significantly darker
and more dramatic compared to the boceto
(Figure 4) and whereas the final painting features
what appear to be damp stone walls in the
background, the boceto has broad outlines that
merely indicate the surface.

The man cloaked in white is hidden from view in

the original painting (Figure 5), though he forms a
visible part of the group in the boceto (Figure 6).

Changes in individual characterization can also be

observed, such as the Roman noblewoman in the
final painting (Figure 7) whose persona Luna more
fully developed by dressing her in fine, expensive
cloth and jewelry while in the boceto (Figure 8), her
blond curls and lavish clothing are indicated with
light strokes. She stands at the front of a jostling Figure 5 Figure 6
crowd which is more robust in the original, turning
the space claustrophobic as they push to the entrance
of the spoliarium.

28 IMPORTANT PHILIPPINE ART


I t is in the figure of the grieving woman dressed
in blue, however, that we see not only how Luna’s
vision is actualized from the boceto to the finished
masterpiece, but also motifs that echo across his
oeuvre. In the final painting (Figure 9) every line of
her body speaks of desolation: her head hangs lower
just as her shoulders slump further down, making the
curve of her form seem exaggerated. Around her,
bodies of fallen gladiators lay in clear articulation
Figure 7
Figure 9
BOCETO FOR ‘SPOLIARIUM’
compared to the broad and quick brushstrokes that
merely indicate their position in the boceto
(Figure 10). Another interesting feature is the distinct
Aegean blue of her dress, a color that will take
prominence in his later painting ¿A Do...Va la Nave?
from 1885. While the blue in ¿A Do...Va la Nave? is
an indication of wealth and privilege, here it serves
as a visual counterpoint to balance out the heavy
activity on the left side of the painting.
Figure 8
Figure 10
JUAN LUNA Y NOVICIO
One of the more immediately noticeable differences
between the original and the boceto is the non-
inclusion of the torch in the finished painting
(Figure 11) - as clearly seen in the picture, it has
either been intentionally obscured or removed from
the original. Beside him, the profile of the man
dressed in a red tunic is turned differently between
iterations, with Luna facing him further away from
the viewer to address the throng of people flowing
into the space of the final painting. The clearly
articulated source of light in the final painting
reinforces the sense of being underground as the
vertical fall of light casts the ensemble into varying
Figure 13. Detail from boceto - Spoliarium
30 IMPORTANT PHILIPPINE ART
degrees of shadow. Darkness plays a key role in the
viewer’s experience of space in the final painting,
with its near black corners hemming in the macabre
scene. In contrast, the boceto (Figure 12) features
no specific source of light as the focus is clearly on
the organization of various elements rather than
producing a full-blown masterpiece. As a boceto,
the rudimentary treatment of anatomy and quick,
cursory strokes are unsurprising as Luna was only
just fleshing out the compositional possibilities for
his work. Basic shapes are indicated with colored
brush strokes such as the gladiators’ feet and arms
(Figures 13, 14).
Figure 14. Detail from Spoliarium
 BOCETO FOR ‘SPOLIARIUM’

Figure 11

Figure 12
JUAN LUNA Y NOVICIO
THE WRITING ON THE
CANVAS: SIGNS AND
SYMBOLS
Among the many fascinating details of this painting,
the most revelatory aspect that roused the interest of
Salcedo Auctions to undertake further due diligence
was found on the lower right hand corner of the
painting (Figure 1), which had been inscribed:
SPOLIARIVM = boceto = LVNA R1883
Based on an analysis of the penmanship, it was
evident that the writing on the boceto and those on
art historically accepted, exhibited, and published
works by Luna matched: from the block letters that
spell out the title of the artwork and the artist’s name,
to the distinctive manner in which the ‘R’ preceding
the year ‘1883’ echoed the manner in which the ‘R’
in ‘Roma’ had been inscribed on other known works
by Luna that he had painted in the city.
We are aware that when Luna moved to Paris in
October 1884, his deepening involvement with
Figure 1. Detail of the inscription from the boceto
32 IMPORTANT PHILIPPINE ART
propagandist confreres such as Rizal and his future
brother-in-law Trinidad Pardo de Tavera resulted
in an outlook that sought to present the peoples
of the Philippines as a proud race, with a society
developed and civilized according to Western
standards. This is best seen in his 1886 work The
Blood Compact completed as part of his commitment
to the Ayuntamiento de Manila (now part of the state
collection and displayed at the Philippine Presidential
Palace of Malacañan) to reciprocate his study
pension. It depicts the 1565 sandugo formalizing
the peace treaty between the Bohol chieftain Raha
Sikatuna with the Spanish conquistador Miguel López
de Legazpi, who is surrounded by his men. Here the
indigenous leader is shown with his back turned,
garbed in chain-mail armor and carrying weapons
drawn from historical research provided by Rizal and
Pardo de Tavera.
 BOCETO FOR ‘SPOLIARIUM’

Pointing to this connection to a sophisticated pre-

Spanish Philippine culture, the most curious element
in this section of the boceto is in fact the most
revealing, as it establishes a solid connection to the
identity of the artist and his body of work:
the symbols
Juan Luna’s inscription in En El Palco, 1884

Ambeth Ocampo refers to these exact same glyphs

when he indicates in relation to two other Luna
paintings that these are “...signed by pre-Spanish
syllabary or Baybayin. In these works ‘Luna’ (Spanish
for ‘moon’) is replaced with the characters ‘bu’ and
‘la’ to spell ‘bulan,’ the Ilocano word for ‘moon’
because Luna was born in Ilocos Norte, in a small
town called Badoc about 400 kilometers north of
Manila. In other works, Luna signed with the initials
8
‘J.B’ for ‘Juan Bulan.’(Figure 2)”

Figure 2. Doña Consolación

(from Noli Me Tangere) c. 1890s
JUAN LUNA Y NOVICIO
A QUESTION OF STYLE
One of the known paintings that Ocampo is referring
to is an 1884 work formerly in the collection of the
López Memorial Museum and now in the Paulino
and Hetty Que collection, En el Palco (Figure 1),
a favorite among Luna aficionados for its lush
texture and jewel tone colors, the rustle of silk and
organza, the sheen of gilt and jewels, and the whirl
of movement and social hubbub echoed by Luna’s
painterly approach, which can be rightly described
as impressionistic for its nimble, point-and-dash
application of pigments to capture the nuances of
light.
34 IMPORTANT PHILIPPINE ART
This same approach can be seen in several other
works from this juncture in the artist’s career, among
these Street Flower Vendors (c.1885) (Figure 2)
and Odalisque (1886), whose boceto, a signed
watercolor on paper, bears a striking resemblance to
the loose brushwork of the artwork in consideration.
It is safe to declare on this evidence that the boceto
for Spoliarium is period-correct and consistent in
terms of approach and style with other known and
accepted works by the master.
 BOCETO FOR ‘SPOLIARIUM’

Figure 1. Juan Luna, En El Palco, 1884.

Paulino and Hetty Que collection

Figure 2. Juan Luna, Street Flower

Vendors, c. 1885.
Lopez Memorial Museum, Pasig City
JUAN LUNA Y NOVICIO
JOURNEY OF THE BOCETO
What are the origins then of the boceto of the
greatest artistic treasure of the Philippines? A
personal visit made by the author in mid-2018 to the
location of this painting revealed a surprising thread
of historical and personal connections that awakened
us to a rich past and even more startling discoveries.
Unbeknownst to us, and revealed only when we
were ushered into the owner’s sitting room, was
another wondrous jewel, an oil on canvas by Félix
Resurrección Hidalgo depicting a female artist
holding an easel- the gossamer lines, wispy palette,
and misty, dream-like atmosphere undeniably one
that could only have been done by Luna’s celebrated
rival and compatriot.
Based on interviews conducted with the current
owner, followed by further investigations and discreet
inquiries, Salcedo Auctions followed the trail of the
ancestors of the current owner to the town of Sárria,
in the Province of Lugo, a green and forested region
in Galicia, Northern Spain.
36 IMPORTANT PHILIPPINE ART
The objective was to determine how two paintings
by two Filipinos of different trajectories and styles,
although related in origin and revolving around
similar artistic circles, could have appeared in this
small town.
It was established that both paintings originated from
the Castiñeira family, its descent being traced back
to Don Xosé Vázquez Castiñeira, a solicitor who had
9
been mayor of Sárria in 1890.
At some stage, it came into the possession of his
son, Don Francisco Vazquez Gayoso, an accounting
officer of the Public Treasury, thence ownership was
transferred to his wife Doña Maria Nuñez Rodriguez,
who being childless bequeathed the Spoliarium
boceto and the Hidalgo painting to the current
owner.
This information led to an even greater and more
pressing question: How did the Castiñeira family
come to possess these two artworks at the end of the
19th century?
 BOCETO FOR ‘SPOLIARIUM’

Location map of Sárria, Province of Lugo, Spain

JUAN LUNA Y NOVICIO
A SWEET DISCOVERY
The investigation took us to the heart of Sárria, to the
home of the Castiñeira family on Rúa Maior, to shed
light on the origin of these oils on canvas.
Here, a connection was made to Juan Luna and
Félix Resurrección Hidalgo, when Salcedo Auctions
discovered that an extremely important figure in the
political and economic history of Spain in the late
19th century lived in close proximity and on the same
street (Figure 1) as Don Xosé and his family.
Right in front of the Castiñeira ancestral home was a
commemorative plaque that indicated the birthplace
(Figure 2) of the entrepreneur
Figure 1. Street map showing the houses of Matías López and the Castiñeira family
38 IMPORTANT PHILIPPINE ART
Don Matías López y López (1825-1891) (Figure 3),
who achieved great success in the field of business,
moving as a teenager from Sárria to Madrid and
through hard work, perseverance and an ascetic
lifestyle saved enough money to eventually establish
what would become the most successful chocolate and
sweets factory in the country, Chocolates y Dulces
Matías López (Figure 4). Such business acumen - by
1870 it was said that his factory supplied 4/5 of all
chocolates in Spain - earned him an appointment
by Spain’s King Alfonso XII in 1883 as Senator
Vitalicio (Senator for Life) for his contribution to the
prosperity of the kingdom. The offer of a dukedom
later followed, which he modestly refused.
 BOCETO FOR ‘SPOLIARIUM’

Figure 2. Don Matías López y López birthplace commemorative plaque on

Rúa Maior, Sárria

Figure 3. Don Matías López (1825-1891) Figure 4. Chocolates y Dulces Matías López
JUAN LUNA Y NOVICIO

Figure 5. “The best Ambassador for Paris Exposition

1889: ‘El chocolatero’”

Figure 6. Juan Luna and Félix Resurrección Hidalgo Figure 7. Juan Luna and Matías López mentioned in
with others present works at the Paris Exposition the same newspaper article, 1889
where Matías López is the Commissioner. La Iberia

40 IMPORTANT PHILIPPINE ART


It is through Don Matías that Salcedo Auctions
presumes that the connection between Luna
(and Hidalgo), Sárria, and the Castiñeiras
was established; because in 1889, the Spanish
government appointed López, at the peak of his
power and fame, as the President of the Spanish
Committee and Commissioner of the Spanish Pavilion
at the Universal Exhibition in Paris (Figure 5).
In various annexed documents from newspapers
at that time, both the names Matías López and
the painters Luna and Hidalgo (Figures 6, 7), who
presented their artworks alongside other Spanish
artists, appear. It is not farfetched to conjecture from
this close association and circumstantial evidence that
López could have directly acquired paintings from
both artists. Indeed, what other explanation could
there be for Luna’s Spoliarium boceto and Hidalgo’s
portrait of a female artist to travel 1500 kilometers
BOCETO FOR ‘SPOLIARIUM’
from the great city of Paris to the small town of
Sárria? Spatially and temporally, the most plausible
explanation would be that this exchange and
movement happened sometime during or immediately
after the Universal Exhibition of 1889.
Luna was then at the height of his fame, and already
well-entrenched in Paris. At the Spanish Pavilion, he
is recorded to have exhibited five works, the most
well-known being Hymén, O, Hymenée! (The Roman
Wedding). López may well have been impressed by
these works and, seeing that the artist’s most famous
painting Spoliarium had by this time already been
acquired by the provincial government of Barcelona,
he may have instead decided to purchase its boceto.
Luna (and for that matter Hidalgo) may also have
gifted both paintings to López in gratitude for his
patronage. Future scholarship may help to uncover
more clues to determine what really transpired.
JUAN LUNA Y NOVICIO
THE SÁRRIA CONNECTION
Matías López maintained his residence in Sárria,
and it is presumed that after his acquisition of the
paintings of Luna and Hidalgo, these were brought
there. Until his death in 1891, during which period
Castiñeira already held the office of mayor, Don
Matías was involved in many civic projects and
benefactions in his hometown, as seen in further
annexed publications from that time (Figure 1).
Following his demise, the Pope granted the pontifical
title of Marques de Casas López to his widow, a
peerage that continues to this day. King Alfonso XIII
is in fact recorded to have been invited by the newly
ennobled marquesa to reside in the López residence
on his visit to Sárria (Figure 2).
42 IMPORTANT PHILIPPINE ART
As to Castiñeira and López, there can be no doubt
that occupying the highest positions in Sárria, they
would have had a political, social and professional
relationship, appearing together in newspapers from
that time, in addition to being next door neighbors
- this fact being borne out not only by their close
proximity, but also based on archival records of the
10
town. The transfer of ownership of the Luna boceto
as well as the Hidalgo either by purchase or bequest,
backed up by this documentary evidence supporting
their association, may have transpired during this
period.
 BOCETO FOR ‘SPOLIARIUM’

Figure 1. Matías López and Castiñeira together at the same Figure 2. Matías López’s widow, the Marquesa
event in Sárria, where López makes a charitable donation de Casas López, invites and offers her house in
Sárria to King Alfonso XIII
JUAN LUNA Y NOVICIO
DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE
OF THE EXISTENCE OF THE
BOCETO
In 1892, Luna, in a fit of jealousy, shot and mortally
wounded his wife Paz Pardo de Tavera, and his
mother-in-law, Juliana Gorricho at their Paris
residence, for which he was detained at Mazas
Prison, Paris. Early the following year, he was
exonerated by a jury on grounds that the act was
a ‘crime of passion,’ whereupon the artist, together
with his son Andres (Luling), and his brother Antonio
immediately returned to Madrid. There, he curated
the Philippine exhibition (Sala XIII) at the Exposición
Histórico-Natural y Etnográfica at the Museo
Arqueológico Nacional, that included among the
44 IMPORTANT PHILIPPINE ART
weapons, fabrics, and ceramics, Luna’s own works of
art: “the boceto of Spoliarium, España y Filipinas, a
painted silk fan...[and] other works by Hidalgo,
11
La Pintura...”
This catalogue entry is of extreme importance
because it lists both paintings that we had traced to
the Castiñeira family and which by descent currently
belongs to the aforementioned private European
collection: indisputable documentary proof of the
12
existence of both the Luna boceto and the Hidalgo.
 BOCETO FOR ‘SPOLIARIUM’

The author inspects the boceto of Spoliarium for The author’s initial encounter with Hidalgo’s
the first time La Pintura at the home of the private
European collector
JUAN LUNA Y NOVICIO

Full image and close up of

signature of Hidalgo’s
La Pintura

More importantly, an installation view of the

exhibition shows what appears to be the Hidalgo
painting hanging behind a nipa pavilion surrounded
13
by pieces of furniture.

Installation view of the Philippine exhibition (Sala XIII) of the 1893 Exposicion Exposición Histórico-Natural y
Etnográfica at the Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Madrid that shows what appears to be Hidalgo’s La Pintura

46 IMPORTANT PHILIPPINE ART


The boceto for Spoliarium together with Hidalgo’s La Pintura
are listed among the pieces in the Sala de Filipinas
A news article in La Ilustracion Ibérica mentions the boceto for Spoliarium as part of the 1893 exhibit
This evidence raises two other provenance
hypotheses: 1) that the works in the 1893 exhibition
were loaned by Luna from either the Matías López
heirs who had homes both in Madrid and Sárria,
or from the Castiñeira family in Sárria; or that Luna
brought both paintings back with him from Paris,
whereupon they were purchased by the López heirs,
who would later bring the artworks back to Sárria
and later transferred ownership to the Castiñeiras;
BOCETO FOR ‘SPOLIARIUM’
or 2) that the Castiñeiras themselves acquired the
paintings in Madrid and brought them to Sárria, in
which case there would have been no direct purchase
or bequest that transpired between Matías López,
Luna, and Hidalgo.
The first hypothesis appears to be the more likely and
plausible one.
JUAN LUNA Y NOVICIO

CONDITION REPORT AND

ANALYSIS

The canvas foundation of the artwork is in good

condition, having been neatly relined by a
conservator in the not so distant past (Figure 1). The
relining material is proper raw linen. The reason for
relining may have been to smoothen the cracks in the
paint film and also to lend new strength to the brittle
original material (Figure 2). Relining also repairs
the holes made by old nails along the margins. The
canvas is no longer held with nails but is now tacked
with copper staples that are intended not to rust.

The paint film and priming are currently stable also

due in part to good care by its owners and the Figure 1
conservation work it underwent previously. The cracks
and impressions on the paint film that were caused
by years of contact with the wooden stretcher bars
have since been smoothened, although traces of these
are still seen running vertically along the center of the
painting (Figure 3). The cracks that remain are stable
and do not require repair or reconstruction.

Figure 2

48 IMPORTANT PHILIPPINE ART

 BOCETO FOR ‘SPOLIARIUM’

Figure 3. Detail of natural craquelure on the canvas of the boceto

JUAN LUNA Y NOVICIO

The paint film is generally intact and the pigments

are brilliant and clear, as the piece may have been
cleaned by a conservator at about the same time it
was relined.

Given the age of the painting however, it is also

inevitable that some conservation work has been
done, which is more focused towards the left-hand
margin followed by the central portion, and decreases
towards the right-hand side of the painting. It is good
to note that the restoration work has been carefully
applied so as not to interfere with the original.

50 IMPORTANT PHILIPPINE ART

BOCETO FOR ‘SPOLIARIUM’
JUAN LUNA Y NOVICIO

Examination under UV light also reveals that the

varnish and patina layers fluoresce to a rich greenish
glow, indicating that the artwork is indeed an old
piece from over a century ago. (Figures 4, 5, 6)
Of particular note is the signature, which has not Figure 4

been tampered with and disappears under UV light,

indicating that it was signed upon completion of the
14
painting by the original hand that created the artwork
(Figure 7).

Figure 6

52 IMPORTANT PHILIPPINE ART

 BOCETO FOR ‘SPOLIARIUM’

Figure 5

Figure 7
JUAN LUNA Y NOVICIO
CONCLUSION
Given the evidence outlined in this essay, which was
based on first hand material study of the object and
its condition; and following thorough and extensive
research of its provenance based on personal
interviews, site visits, historical records, archival
material, and published documents, it is the opinion
of Salcedo Auctions that Boceto for Spoliarium is an
original and authentic work by the country’s greatest
artist, Juan Luna y Novicio - a long-lost treasure that
has finally returned to the Philippines.
The discovery of this artwork marks an important
milestone in Philippine art history, a proud
achievement to add to the list of contributions
made through the years by the country’s premier
auction house in the continuing study and increased
appreciation of our nation’s cultural heritage.
54
We reflect upon this supreme image of struggle
and dehumanization envisioned by Luna - one that
continues to resonate among many Filipinos who,
defeated on the gladiatorial arena of life, continue
to be dragged into the dark depths of despair,
harangued by a society waiting to pounce upon their
dispossession.
Yet as we lay eyes upon the grieving woman on
the right - she is crouched yet illumined, possibly
contemplating the future that lies ahead - we continue
to find solace and hope.
We honor not only the creative achievement of one
man, but also the allegory of the eternal that Luna’s
art represents
 BOCETO FOR ‘SPOLIARIUM’

“...his legacy will be [..]

15

above all, the Spoliarium.”

53
JUAN LUNA Y NOVICIO

ENDNOTES
1 Rizal, José. “Homage to Luna and Hidalgo.” Speech, ‘Brindis’ at Restaurante Ingles, Spain, Madrid,
June 25, 1884.
2 Schumacher, John N. The Propaganda Movement, 1880-1895: The Creation of a Filipino
Consciousness, the Making of the Revolution. Rev. ed. Quezon City: Ateneo De Manila
University Press, 1997, 49-52.
3 Europa Press. Periodismo. “La Sala Parés De Barcelona, Establecimiento Artístico Más
Antiguo De España, Celebra Sus 130 Años Con Tres Exposiciones.” News release, December
12, 2007. Periodista Digital. Accessed August 21, 2018. http://www.periodistadigital.com/old/801339.shtml.
4 “Spoliarium.” Virtual Collection of Asian Masterpieces, 2013. Accessed August 22, 2018. http://masterpieces.
asemus.museum/masterpiece/detail.nhn?objectId=12563
5 Pilar, Santiago Albano. Juan Luna: The Filipino as Painter. Manila: Eugenio Lopez Foundation, 1980, 50.
6 Clark, John. “The Asian Modern.” 1-11. 2013. Accessed August 21, 2018.
https://cdn.aaa.org.hk/_source/digital_collection/fedora_extracted/45811.pdf.
7 Porto, Julián Pérez, and María Merino. Definicion.de. 2009. Accessed August 21, 2018.
https://definicion.de/boceto/.
8 Ocampo, Ambeth. “Juan Luna: A Brush with History” in Between Worlds: Raden Saleh and
Juan Luna, National Gallery Singapore, exhibition catalogue, 2018, 117.
9 Arlindo. “The Counties of Sárria.” Sarriaacentogalego. June 07, 2016. Accessed August 21, 2018.
http://sarriaacentogalego.blogspot.com/2016/06/o-concello-de-sarria-1916.html.
10 Arlindo. “Streets of Sárria (1889/1925).” Sarriaacentogalego. June 18, 2016. Accessed August 21, 2018.
http://sarriaacentogalego.blogspot.com/2016/06/o-concello-de-sarria-1916.html.
11 Breve Noticia de la Exposicion Historico-Natural y Etnografica de Madrid. Madrid: Sucesores
De Rivadeneyra, 1893, 38-40. http://www.man.es/man/dms/man/coleccion/catalogos-
colectivos/expo-historico-natural/Pagina-5/MAN-Exp-1893-Historico-Natural-1.pdf.
12 El Dia, “La Exposicion Historico-Natural y Etnografica,” Madrid. 7 May 1893.
13 La Exposicion Historico-Natural y Etnografica de 1893. Madrid: Ministerio de Educacion,
Cultura, y Deporte, 2017. Foto No. 18].
14 Sanares-Reyes, Missy. ‘Condition Report for Juan Luna The Spoliarium (boceto).’ 2018.
15 Navarro, Carlos G., ‘Juan Luna’s cursus honorum in Spain: Laurels and Thorns’ in Between Worlds: Raden Saleh
and Juan Luna, National Gallery Singapore, exhibition catalogue, 2018. p. 130, citing an article published by
El Globo, 20 January 1900.

56 IMPORTANT PHILIPPINE ART

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Salcedo Auctions is grateful to the following for their

contribution to this momentous undertaking

Condition and Conservation Consultants: Missy Sanares-Reyes, Maita M. Reyes

Additional Photographs: Kimberly Que
Additional Research: Jeremy Clemente

Special thanks to Dr. Ambeth Ocampo for his generous advice in the research undertaken for this project.

Published in conjunction with Important Philippine Art The Well-Appointed Life

Preview 13-23 September 2018, Auction 22 September 2018, The Peninsula Manila

© 2018 Salcedo Auctions

Editor and Writer: Ramon E.S. Lerma

Additional Research and Writing: Monica Fernandez, Andie Ignacio
Editorial & Graphic Designer: Bim Vitan

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