Juan Luna: A biographical sketch

Abstract

In a banquet gathered in the English Restaurant, in metropolitan, in 1884, the Filipino community present were jubilant. For the first time this community, in a very festive mood, celebrated a big event. In that gathering two young Filipino painters were being dined and toasted. One of them and the more important honoree was the 27-year old Juan Luna y Novicio; the other being Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo, Juan Luna, with his masterpiece, the Spoliarium, had won the first prize National Exposition of Fine Arts in Madrid, which was participated in by painters from Spain, France, Belgium, Italy, and many other countries of Europe. Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo had won the 9th prize with a silver medal.

At this banquet were gathered prominent artists of Spain, France, Italy, Germany and Belgium. There were Spanish officials and artists and art connoisseurs including Morayta, Moret, Correa, Niny Tudo, Aguilera, Andres Melado, Fernandez Bremon, Moya Cardenas, Rico, Gutierrez, Abascal, Vigil, Del Val and Ansorena. The Filipino community present included besides the honorees, Jose Rizal, the Paternos Pedro, Maximino and Antonio), Manuel de Azcarraga, Graciano Lopez Jaena, Antonio Regidor, Eduardo de Lette, Valentin Ventura, Jose Maria Panganiban, Arcadio and Tomas del Rosario, Julio Llorante, Govantes, Aguirre, Castillo, and several others.

Several speaker mostly highly placed and prominent Spaniards, extolled the greatness of the honorees especially Luna, Jose Rizal, a 23-year old Filipino senior medical student in Madrid, who later became the Philippines' greatest hero, was the principal speaker of the Filipino group. In his speech, Rizal spoke of Luna as the surveyor of "the spirit of our social, moral and political life." He characterized Luna as the symbol of "humanity subjected to hard trials, humanity unredeemed" and as eloquent advocate of the aspirations of the Filipino people. In Luna’s paintings, continued Rizal, "we find the shades, the mysterious and the terrible, like an echo of the dark storms of the tropics, its thunderbolts, and the destructive eruptions of its volcanoes."