JUAN LUNA

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.”

Luna sought inspiration not from his contemporarries, the Impressionists, but from
the Romantic Delacroix, Rembrandt and Daumier from whom he learned imparting power
and mysticism to his works. All these influences were incorporated in a style that was
Luna’s own.

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.”