JUAN LUNA was born in Badoc, Ilocos Norte, on October 23, 1857, and, like Hidalgo, was the

third of
seven children. Early in his life, the family moved to Manila and lived in Trozo. The young Luna received
his early education at the Ateneo Municipal and later at the Escuela Nautica de Manila. In 1873, he
became an apprentice officer and traveled to various Asian ports. Whenever his ship was in port in
Manila, he took painting lessons in the Academia de Dibujo y Pintura of Fr. Agustin Saiz.

Don Lorenzo Guerero, whoe easily recognized the young man’s natural talent, was the first tutor of the
young Luna. He persuaded Luna’s parents to send their son to Spain for advanced painting lessons. Luna
left for Barcelona in 1877 together with his elder brother Manuel, who was a violinist. He entered the
Escuela de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid, where, in a year’s time, he won the only academic
prize of his school. Not satisfied with the instruction in school, he took private lessons under Alejo Vera,
a famous contemporary paiter in Spain. Like his teacher, Vera, too, had high regard for his pupil. Proof of
this was his taking Luna with him to Rome to undertake certain commissions.

In Rome, Luna widened his knowledge of art, for he was exposed to the immortal works of the
Renaissance masters. It was there that he painted his “Daphne y Cleo” for which he received a silver
palette from the Liceo Artistico de Manila. Subsequently, he exhibited several canvases at the Exposicion
General de Bellas Artes in Madrid and won a silver medal (2nd class) for “La Muerte de Cleopatra.” This
painting was later purchased by the Spanish government for a thousand duros.

Luna’s growing fame won for him a four-year pensionadoship for the Ayuntamiento de Manila. Though
under obligation to paint only one canvas, he gave the Spanish government three; namely, “The Blood
Compact,” now in Malacanang. “Don Miguel Lopez de Legazpi,” which was burned during the war and
“Governor Ramon Blanco” (which was part of the present collection).

It was while still in Rome that Luna worked incessantly on the “Spoliarium.” He entered this painting in
the Exposicion General de Bellas Artes in Madrid, and it won one of the three gold medals. In the same
exposition, Hidalgo won a silver medal for his “Virgenes Cristianas Expuestas al Populacho.” Because of
the double victory of the two Filipino painters, Filipinos in Spain gathered to honor them. One of the
Filipinos was Jose Rizal, who in boosting the two honorees also spoke for the first time of the conditions
then prevailing in his country. Having attained fame, Luna now received various government
commissions. These commissions produced his great canvases, such as “The Battle of Lepanto,” “Peuple
et Rois” and “España y Filipinas.”

Luna’s canvases show a distinct contrast to those of Hidalgo’s. In contrast to the ever-delicate paintings
of Hidalgo, Luna’s work show more drama and bravura. A forceful dynamic man, Luna has his
personality stamped on every canvas of his. His power and joie de vivre were notable characteristics of
his works.

A Filipino art critic spoke of Luna thus: “Vigor and realism characterize his art. In a single brush stroke,
he paints a fair of emotions that fills the beholder with drama and tragedy of his theme…Luna was
graver, more profound in his emotions than Hidalgo. The latter was mre pure, more serene in his
feelings.”

In 1885, the painter moved to Paris and established his studio at 65 Boulevard Arago, near the studio of
Hidalgo. Later he moved to 175 Boulevard Pereire. Like Hidalgo’s, his studio became a gathering place
for the Filipino community in Paris. It was here where Rizal and other young Filipinos organized the
Indios Bravos.
The following year, 1886, he married Paz Pardo de Tavera, with whom he had a son, Andres. The
marriage ended in tragedy. Luna in a fit of jealousy, killed his wife and mother-in-law and wounded his
brother-in-law, Felix, on September 23, 1892. He was acquitted of the charge of parricide and murder by
the French court on February 7, 1893. Five days later, he moved with his son to Madrid, where he
finished few paintings. On April 27, 1894, he returned to the Philippines after an absence of 17 years.
While in Manila, he finished some Philippine scenes. Early in 1896, he again departed, this time for
Japan. He returned a few weeks after the Cry of Balintawak. On the evening of September 16, 1896, he
was arrested and confined for complicity in the Katipunan revolt. He was among those pardoned during
the birthday of King Alfonso XIII on May 27, 1897. The following month, he left for Spain.

In 1898, the executive board of the Philippine revolutionary government appointed him a member of
the Paris delegation which was working for the diplomatic recognition of the Philippine Republic. When
the Treaty of Paris was signed on December 10, 1899, he was named a member of the delegation to
Washington to press for the recognition of the Philippine government.

Upon hearing the death of his brother Antonio, Luna hurriedly returned to Hong Kong. On December 7,
1899, he suffered a severe heart attack and died before receiving medical attention. He was buried in
Hong Kong. His remains were exhumed in 1920 and were kept in the house of his son, to be later
transferred to a niche at the Crypt Chapel of San Agustin.

Luna’s fame spread far and wide; he was acclaimed both in Europe and at home, yet there were
skeptical Spaniards who took his race against him. Rizal defended him by saying, “Genius has no country,
genius burst forth everywhere, is like light and air – the patrimony of all; cosmopolitan as space, as life
as God.”