Understanding Art:

A case study on
“Spoliarium”

This is the “Spoliarium” by Juan Novicio Luna, as masterpiece created in 1884. It is one of the prize
possession of the Philippine National Museum today. This Neoclassical artwork earned Juan Luna 3 gold
medal in the Exposicion Nacional de Bellas Artes and recognition among the connoisseurs and art critics.
It was praise so much that even Jose Rizal, Philippine’s national hero, prepared a speech for Juan Luna,
addressing two things from his artwork, the glorification of genius and the grandeur of his artistic skills.
And it’s not a surprise why he called the artwork “The Glorification of Genius.” Not only does it
enticed the fewer with compelling imagery of death, but it also sneaks in a historical nod to the Filipino
History.

So much jump out of me when looking at this masterpiece, the transition of light, the movement of every
character, the chaotic scene depicted and the attention to detail Juan Luna gave to his artworks. As the
title suggestion, the scene depicts a Spoliarium or what’s happening in the Spoliarium. A Spoliarium is a
Latin word referring to the basement of the Roman Colosseum where the fallen and dying gladiators who
fight to the death for the entertainment of their Roman oppressors are dumped and devoid of their worldly
possessions. Luna depicts to us what is happening after the gladiator’s fight and what happened to those
who loses the battle.

The first thing that’ll catch your eyes is the dead body being dragged to the darkness, Your eyes will
wander around the dead body, you might next be looking at the woman crying alone or maybe the old
man looking at the dead body, then to the crowd of people behind the stairs, then on other dead bodies
being dragged away the finally, in the darkness where the dead fighters being drag to. What strikes me the
most in this painting is the subtle way Luna provides us with the political comments about his
motherland, the Philippines. Maybe that is the reason why Dr. Jose Rizal footnoted in his speech that the
Spoliarium,
“Embodied the essence of our social, moral and political life: humanity in the severe ordeal, humanity
unredeemed, reason, and idealism in open struggle with prejudice, fanaticism, and injustice.”

What I notice when examining this artwork is the continuous separation of the darkness to the other parts
of the painting. The people on the stairway though they are above all other characters, but they’re not
really given any solid form as if they’re not important. As if they’re just a mere background.

You can clear define where the lights shine from above. Telling who is in the center stage.

We can see the main actor of the painting as he is being dragged by another gladiator into the darkness,
and this is where the story starts. The warrior being drag can be represented as Filipinos. Dead from
fighting with another gladiator, which are other Filipinos, for the self-gain of their oppressors, the Spanish
overlords. The Philippines by then have been ruled for over 319 years when the painting was finished. At
that time, around 1872, a revolutionary sentiment arose after three Filipino priests, the
famous GOMBURZA (Mariano Gomez, José Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora) when they were accused of
inciting revolt against the authority by colonial authorities and then executed. It’s also interesting to point
out that the Rizal’s book would be called Noli Me Tangere, “the Latin echo of the Spoliarium”
Under the Spanish rule, not only those who fought suffered but also their families and their loved ones.
Some people who lost someone during the Spanish rule tell the tales they saw and some are weeps but are
forgotten in the darkness of history.

Going back on the dead bodies, we can see that as they are being dragged into the darkness, to be
forgotten in the limited scope of history, some are remembered for their action. The gladiator on the
center can be depicted as well as the Filipino heroes who fought bravely. But in every battle, in every war,
there are those who are fought and yet they’re names and faces are forgotten.

The “Spoliarium” by Juan Luna is a detailed image of the Filipinos history, it’s a microscopic view of the
past and the forgotten memory of the Filipinos, it let us see the memory of those who live in the era where
the Filipinos are under the tyranny of an overlord. Neoclassicism like this may seem severe and blunt but
so much is happening in Juan Luna’s The Spoliarium. An interplay of historical, personal, political and
aesthetic pieces build together to force us to see what we don’t know, to make us look at something
beautiful and make us realize the things that we should know.

This is the reason why Dr. Jose Rizal addresses Juan Luna’s grandeur of his artistic skills because the
Spoliarium is a work of genius
 MADONNA AND CHILD

Madonna and Child was painted by one of the most influential artists of the late 13th and early 14th
century, Duccio di Buoninsegna. This iconic image of the Madonna and Child, seen throughout the
history of western art, holds significant value in terms of stylistic innovations of religious subject matter
that would continue to evolve for centuries.

Duccio’s Madonna and Child, or Stoclet Madonna, has only been widely acknowledged as Duccio’s
work for the past century, and accessible to scholars for only half a century. Comparing the compact size
of this work of 11X8 1/8 in. to larger, more illustrious altarpieces and large scale frescoes, the Madonna
and Child is understood to be an intimate, devotional image. Some evocations of this understanding come
from the burnt edges on the bottom of the original engaged frame caused by burning candles that likely
would have sat just beneath. Looking past the abrupt simplicity of the image, one can begin to understand
the changes Duccio was applying to the depiction of religious figures in painting during the early 14th
century. Duccio followed other innovative Italian artists of the time like Giotto, both of whom strove to
move beyond the purely iconic Byzantine canon and attempted to create a more tangible connection
between the viewer and the objects in the painting. For example, the parapet that sits at the bottom of the
painting works as a visual enticement for the viewer to look past and into the moment that is captured
between the Virgin and Christ Child. At the same time, the parapet also acts as a barrier between the
vernacular world and the sacred.

There is debate between scholars of what the most accurate chronology of Duccio’s Madonna and
Child is. There is more than 20 years of time where scholars do not have accounted works by Duccio
leaving a questionable, although fairly certain estimation of the Madonna and Child to be made around
1300. Due to the fact that some qualities of the painting are Bysantinesque like the oval shape of the
Virgin’s face and her elegantly long nose, and also of the “miniature man” nature of Christ Child,the lack
of consensus of when it was created proceeds. But, there are of course many innovative elements to the
painting which align it appropriately in the time that is now acknowledged to be most accurate. Along
with the humanistic qualities between the Virgin and Christ Child, and the elegant draping, the marble
parapet is a notable detail to the intentions of the painting, and serves as a visual invitation that
encourages the viewer to engage more emotionally to the image. This idea would continue on in a myriad
of paintings proceeding this work.
 The Last Supper - by Leonardo Da Vinci

In 1495, Leonardo da Vinci began what would become one of history's most influential works of
art - The Last Supper

The Last Supper is Leonardo's visual interpretation of an event chronicled in all four of the
Gospels (books in the Christian New Testament). The evening before Christ was betrayed by one
of his disciples, he gathered them together to eat, tell them he knew what was coming and wash
their feet (a gesture symbolizing that all were equal under the eyes of the Lord). As they ate and
drank together, Christ gave the disciples explicit instructions on how to eat and drink in the future,
in remembrance of him. It was the first celebration of the Eucharist, a ritual still performed.

Specifically, The Last Supper depicts the next few seconds in this story after Christ dropped the
bomb shell that one disciple would betray him before sunrise, and all twelve have reacted to the
news with different degrees of horror, anger and shock.
Leonardo hadn't worked on such a large painting and had no experience in the standard mural
medium of fresco. The painting was made using experimental pigments directly on the dry
plaster wall and unlike frescos, where the pigments are mixed with the wet plaster, it has not
stood the test of time well. Even before it was finished there were problems with the paint flaking
from the wall and Leonardo had to repair it. Over the years it has crumbled, been vandalized
bombed and restored. Today we are probably looking at very little of the original.
Much of the recent interest in the painting has centred on the details hidden within the painting,
but in directing attention to these 'hidden' details, most people miss the incredible sense of
perspective the work displays. The sharp angling of the walls within the picture, which lead back
to the seemingly distant back wall of the room and the windows that show the hills and sky
beyond. The type of day shown through these windows adds to the feeling of serenity that rests
in the centre of the piece, around the figure of Christ.
 The Layout of The Last Supper

Leonardo balanced the perspective construction of the Last Supper so that its vanighing point
is immediately behind Christ's right temple, pointing to the physical location of the centre,
or sensus communis, of his brain. By pulling a string in radial directions from this point, he
marked the table ends, floor lines, and orthogonal edges of six ceiling coffer column. From the
right and/or left edge of the horizon line, he drew diagonal lines up to the coffer corners, locating
points for the horizonal lines of the 12 coffer rows.
Leonardo was well known for his love of symmetry. In his Last Supper the layout is largely
horizontal. The large table is seen in the foreground of the image with all of the figures behind it.
The painting is largely symmetrical with the same number of figures on either side of Jesus. The
above diagram shows how the perspective the Last Super was worked out with a series of
marks at key points highlighting the architectural aspects of the composition and positioning of
the figures.

10 Facts You Might not Know about the Masterpiece

1. "Last Supper" is a failed experiment.

Unlike traditional frescoes, which Renaissance masters painted on wet plaster walls, da
Vinci experimented with tempura paint on a dry, sealed plaster wall in the Santa Maria
delle Grazie monastery in Milan, Italy. The experiment proved unsuccessful, however,
because the paint did not adhere properly and began to flake away only a few decades
after the work was finished.

2. The spilled salt is symbolic.

Speculations about symbolism in the artwork are plentiful. For example, many scholars
have discussed the meaning of the spilled salt container near Judas's elbow. Spilled salt
could symbolize bad luck, loss, religion, or Jesus as salt of the earth.

3. Eel or herring?

Scholars have also remarked on da Vinci's choice of food. They dispute whether the fish
on the table is herring or eel since each carries its own symbolic meaning. In Italian, the
word for eel is "aringa." The similar word, "arringa," means to indoctrinate. In northern
Italian dialect, the word for herring is "renga," which also describes someone who denies
religion. This would fit with Jesus' biblical prediction that his apostle Peter would deny
knowing him.

4. Da Vinci used a hammer and nail to help him to achieve the one-point
perspective.

What makes the masterpiece so striking is the perspective from which it's painted, which
seems to invite the viewer to step right into the dramatic scene. To achieve this illusion,
da Vinci hammered a nail into the wall, then tied string to it to make marks that helped
guide his hand in creating the painting's angles.

5. The artwork contains a dire warning.

In 2010, Sabrina Sforza Galitzia translated what she saw as mathematical and
astrological indicators in da Vinci's work as a message from the artist about the end of
the world. According to her interpretation, the artist says the apocalypse will take place
in 4006.

6. The existing mural is not da Vinci's work.

At the end of the 20th century, restorer Panin Brambilla Barcilon and his crew relied on
microscopic photographs, core samples, infrared reflectoscopy and sonar to remove the
added layers of paint and restore the original as accurately as possible. Critics maintain
that only a fraction of the painting that exists today is the work of Leonardo da Vinci.

7. Three early copies of the original exist.

Three of da Vinci's students, including Giampietrino, made copies of his painting early in
the 16th century. Giampietrino did a full-scale copy that is now in London's Royal
Academy of Arts. This oil painting on canvas was the primary resource for the latest
restoration of the work. The second copy by Andrea Solari is in the Leonardo da Vinci
Museum in Belgium while the third copy by Cesare da Sesto is in the Church of Saint
Ambrogio in Switzerland.

The Last Supper Copy - by Giampietrino

8. The painting is also a musical score.

According to Italian musician Giovanni Maria Pala, da Vinci incorporated musical notes in "The
Last Supper." In 2007, Pala created a 40-second melody from the notes that were allegedly
hidden in the scene.

9. The painting has been a victim of neglect and abuse.

In 1652, monastery residents cut a new door in the wall of the deteriorating painting, which
removed a chunk of the artwork showing the feet of Jesus. Late in the 18th century, Napoleon
Bonaparte's soldiers turned the area into a stable and further damaged the wall with projectiles.
During World War II, the Nazis bombed the monastery, reducing surrounding walls to rubble.

10. It has been repeatedly restored.

Da Vinci's masterpiece has been subject to numerous restoration attempts. Some of these took
place in 1726, 1770, 1853, 1903, 1924, 1928 and 1978.