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Juan Luna de San Pedro y Novicio Ancheta
Juan Luna de San Pedro y Novicio Ancheta
Biography[edit]
Early life[edit]
Born in the town of Badoc, Ilocos Norte in the northern Philippines, Luna was the third among the
seven children of Joaquín Luna de San Pedro y Posadas and Laureana Novicio y Ancheta. In 1861,
the Luna family moved to Manila, and he went to the Ateneo Municipal de Manila where he obtained
his Bachelor of Arts degree. He excelled in painting and drawing and was influenced by his brother,
Manuel N. Luna, who, according to Filipino patriot José Rizal, was a better painter than Juan
himself.[1]
Luna enrolled at the Escuela Nautica de Manila (now Philippine Merchant Marine Academy) and
became a sailor. He took drawing lessons under the illustrious painting teacher Lorenzo Guerrero
of Ermita, Manila. He also enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts (Academia de Dibujo y Pintura) in
Manila where he was influenced and taught how to draw by the Spanish artist Agustin Saez.
Unfortunately, Luna's vigorous brush strokes displeased his teacher and Luna was discharged from
the academy. However, Guerrero was impressed by his skill and urged Luna to travel to Madrid to
further pursue his work.[2]
Travel abroad[edit]
In 1875 Manuel and Juan Luna travelled to Europe, where Manuel studied music and Juan painting.
Juan entered the Escuela de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, where he befriended the painter
Don Alejo Vera. Luna was unhappy with the style of teaching in the school and decided that it would
be much better to work with Vera.[2]
Vera brought him to Rome for some of his commissions, and Luna was exposed to the art of
the Renaissance painters. It was in 1878 that his artistic talents were established with the opening of
the first art exposition in Madrid, which was called the Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes (National
Demonstration of Fine Arts). From then on, Luna became engrossed in painting and produced a
collection of paintings that he exhibited at the 1881 Exposition.[2]
In 1881, his La Muerte de Cleopatra won him a silver medal and came in second place. Luna's
growing reputation as an artist led to a pensionado (pension) scholarship at 600 pesos annually
through the Ayuntamiento of Manila. The condition was that he was obliged to develop a painting
which captured the essence of Philippine history, which would then become the Ayuntamiento's
property.[3]
Artistic career[edit]
Juan Luna in his Paris studio.
Marriage[edit]
On December 4, 1886, Luna married María de la Paz Pardo de Tavera, a sister of his friends Félix
and Trinidad Pardo de Tavera. The couple traveled to Venice and Rome and settled in Paris. They
had one son, whom they named Andrés, and a daughter, María de la Paz, nicknamed Bibi, who died
when she was three years old.[5] Luna was fond of his wife. However, the jealous Luna frequently
accused Paz of having an affair with a certain Monsieur Dussaq. Finally in a fit of jealousy, he shot
the door wherein his wife was behind, killing his wife and mother-in-law and wounding his brother-in-
law Félix in the process, on September 22, 1892.[6] He was arrested and murder charges were filed
against him.
Luna was acquitted of the charges on February 8, 1893, on the grounds that it had been a crime of
passion. Temporary insanity; the "unwritten law" at the time forgave men for killing unfaithful wives.
[7]
He was ordered to pay the Pardo de Taveras a sum of 1,651 francs and eighty three cents, and an
additional 25 francs for postage, in addition to the one franc of claims for damages ("dommages-
intérêts"). Five days later, Luna went to Madrid with his brother, Antonio Luna, and his son, Andrés.
Final years[edit]
In 1894 Luna moved back to the Philippines and traveled to Japan in 1896, returning during the
Philippine Revolution of the Cry of Balintawak. On September 16, 1896, he and his brother Antonio
Luna were arrested by Spanish authorities for being involved with the Katipunan rebel army.
[9]
Despite his imprisonment, Luna was still able to produce a work of art which he gave to a visiting
priest. He was pardoned by the Spanish courts on May 27, 1897, and was released from prison and
he traveled back to Spain in July.[10]: 394 He returned to Manila in November 1898.[10]: 394 In 1898, he was
appointed by the executive board of the Philippine revolutionary government as a member of the
Paris delegation which was working for the diplomatic recognition of the República Filipina
(Philippine Republic). In 1899, upon the signing of the Treaty of Paris (1898),[11] Luna was named a
member of the delegation to Washington, D.C. to press for the recognition of the Philippine
government.
He traveled back to the Philippines in December 1899 upon hearing of the murder of his brother
Antonio by the Kawit Battalion in Cabanatuan.
Death[edit]
He traveled to Hong Kong and died there on December 7, 1899, from cardiac arrest. His remains
were buried in Hong Kong and in 1920 were exhumed and kept in Andrés Luna's house, to be later
transferred to a niche at the Crypt of San Agustin Church in the Philippines. Five years later, Juan
would be reinstated as a world-renowned artist and Peuple et Rois, his last major work, was
acclaimed as the best entry to the Saint Louis World's Fair in St. Louis, Missouri.[12] Some of his
paintings were destroyed by fire in World War II.