The life and art of Juan Luna

according to Dr. Jose Rizal

Luna's past is short, it is the story of a plant, hidden in the ground, which
forces a passage to the light in spite of a thousand difficulties. Juan Luna was
born on the 23rd of October, 1857, in Badoc, province of Ilocos Norte, island
of Luzon. To be notable seems a quality inherent in his name. Manuel, his
older brother, who died in the flower of his years, was a musician and artist
from the heart, and, according to Juan Luna, had a stronger disposition
toward painting than he had himself; Jose, younger than he, is one of the
most able surgeons of the Archipelago, and faces a most brilliant future; the
other ones who are still preparing for their careers have begun to win prizes
in thier concourses.

The parents of Juan Luna moved to Manila to continue the education which
they have given their sons up to then, and have here Juan spent his
childhood which like that of all Filipinos, was without promise or hope. Our
artist obtained his elementary instruction in the colege of the Jesuit Fathers,
and a proof of the wide horizon which the Philippines open to its youth is
that Manuel and Juan, who had no hope of becoming more than their
parents, had to study pilotage, a profession which, good as it may be, did not
correspond with their aptitudes. At the age of seventeen, Juan and his
brother were already sailing the China Sea, first as apprentices, and later as
pilots. Nevertheless, to both of them the sea offered something more than a
way for ships; Manuel heard harmonies in the waves, and Juan saw light
combinations, tones, and colors.

His Art

But let us study the life of the painter. His taste for his vocation was
awakened when he saw the drawings of his brother, Jose; he found them
easy and copied them. Later he entered the Academia de Manila, and after a
time took his master an Indio from the Philippines - not from India - named
Guerrero and with him he studied Nature and for the first time handled
colors. We saw his first canvases, painted in that country so hostile to art,
although all its sons are born artists, and painted under a master who had
virtually taught himself. But soon the palette of the master, as before that
the lithographs of the Academy, offered no further mysteries to the talents of
Juan Luna, and so his family decided at last to send him to Europe, together
with his brother.

When he arrived in Madrid, he took Don Alejo Vera as his teacher. To him he
confesses to owe his taste and style, although the Academia de San Fernando
had honored him with a prize during the one year he studied there. Together
with Vera who loved him affectionately and who had great hopes for him, he
roamed though Italy - the predilected aspiration of artists - and established
himself at the side of Vera in Rome, never ceasing to listen to his counsel.
There in that city, where every artist gather this freshest laurels, he
contracted an intimagte friendship with Maximo Benlliure, the creator in
Spain of a smiling sculpture. There he painted his first picture "Daphne and
Cloe", which was awarded a silver medal at the Liceo de Manila; there, too,
inspired by his master's work, "The Last Days of Numancia", he painted "The
Death of Cleopatra", which was awarded a second prize in the Madrid
Exposition of 1881, and which made a vivid impression on the entire press.
It was then that a consejal in Manila presented a motion in the
Ayuntamiento to award a pension extraordinary to Luna, a motion which,
supported by the Philippine colony in Madrid and by Spanish painters in
Rome, has the rare fortune to be considered, and, against all custom, even
adopted. The Philippines ought to remember and love the name of Don
Francisco de Rodoreda, one of the few who have been faithfully interested in
the sons of this soil.

The Spoliarium

In July, 1883, he began work on "The Spoliarium", unterrified by any

obstacle. After eight months, and at great sacrifice, he completed it, and
astounded all who came to his studio in the Via Margutta. The great Morelli
saluted him with enthusiasm and recommended him to the admiration of
his pupils. The Roman press, surprised in the encountering of his name,
made him generally known. "The Spoliarium" was exhibited in the Palazzo
della Esposizione, granted by the Italian Government for this purpose, and
all Rome, even the King and Queen, rendered admiration and homage to
"the stranger who treats national matters with such sentiment". Some time
ater, "The Spoliarium" drew the attention of all Madrid in the Exposition of
1884. To speak of the impeso it made and of the praise it called forth, would
be to repeat what the whole world knows. It obtained the first of first prizes,
and the Filipino youth of Europe presented the illustrious artist with a
palette decorated with laurels. "The Spoliarium" which fascinates and moves
the be. holder, wresting tears from his somber eyes, is the condemnation of
the despotism and barbarism of a great people by a smaller one, but desirous
of light and liberty. The first copy of the painting was made by a Russian!
Barcelona, which recently admired this painting, will have the fortune of
keeping it, it having been acquired by the Committee of the Province.

The Blood Compact

At present, Luna is finishing his "Blood Compact", a scene from Philippine

history, in which the chief, Sicatuna, and Legaspi, first governor of the
Archipelago, form a blood compact of eternal friendship. The painting
catches the moment when Legaspi brings the cup filled with blood to his
lips. This painting is the first which truthfully reproduces the customs and
the dress of that epoch, now erased from the memory of our people, but
preserved in foreign museums. At the same time, Luna is working on his
"The Battle of Lepanto," which the Senate has ordered to match the painting
"The Surrender of Granada".

The Future
We would not be too hasty in our judgment, but we believe that Luna, for all
his grand and beautiful past, will not sleep on his laurels, but is thinking of
an even more brilliant future, and days of glory in store for both his country
and his parents, whose hopes will be accomplished in their sons. In China, a
country of rare excellence, where the greatness of the son passes to the
father, but not from the father to the son, the progenitors of such illustrious
citizens would already have been ennobled and treated with all veneration.
But in the Philippines, the contrary is done, because, near as the Celestial
Empire may be, it is not China, regardless of what they believe in Spain.

Source

1. Juan Luna, The Philippine Magazine, Volume 26, Number 6, July 1929