The boceto of Juan Luna’s Spolarium will be open to the public for viewing and appreciation from September 13 to 21 at the Peninsula Manila. In line with this, he had proudly lauded this momentous achievement of Juan Luna alongside with Felix Hidalgo, during an exclusive gathering of expatriates which were incidentally, all Filipinos. Luna, working on canvas, spent eight months completing the painting which depicts dying gladiators. why not?
The Spoliarium (often misspelled Spolarium) is a painting by Filipino painter Juan Luna. These types of artworks depict the inner political and socio-cultural views; as well as the sentiments of a Filipino master painter, like Juan Luna. A tue work of art can often speak for itself and releases its true artistic meaning just by looking at it. In support of this very wittingly thought of statement, he became an active member of the band of Filipino intellectuals in Europe, which was generously and solely dedicated to the undying principles of Filipino nationalism, during the early months of the 1880’s and 1890’s. With this magnificent painting, Rizal was happy to know that at long last, there were Filipino artists who had bluntly fought the tyrannical regime of the Spaniards through a simple; but, meaningful work of art.Juan Luna Statue (Photo Courtesy: Elaine Lopez @chobewy on Instagram)The National Commission on Culture and the Arts had said on their article and critical analysis about “The Spoliarium”, Juan Luna never claimed that this masterpiece of his was not just a glorious achievement. HistoricallyBased on historical accounts, the young and brilliant Juan Luna had spent almost eight months of his fruitful life, to finally finish the historically significant Spoliarium. NEW FIND. Rizal was inspired to carve a mark of his own to give glory to his country by writing his 'Spoliarium' since early that year 1884 "he had been toying with the idea of a book" for he has seen and described the painting as "the tumult of the crowd, the shouts of slaves, the metallic clatter of dead men's armor, the sobs of orphans, the murmured prayers..." Rizal's book would be called In 1885, the painting was bought (while still in Paris) by the provincial government of Barcelona (The Spoliarium was sent to the Philippines in 1958 as a gift from the government of The painting was cleaned by Suzanno "Jun" Gonzalez in 1982. “A boceto made in Europe but signed in our indigenous script? These types of artworks depict the inner political and socio-cultural views; as well as the sentiments of a Filipino master painter, like Juan Luna.
His Juan Luna's Spolarium, National Museum of the Philippines (Photo Courtesy: Vicky Ras-Altaie @ mrsvickyaltaie on Instagram)Also, his Spoliarium had provided a distinctive picture and persona of an open struggle against reason and idealism, which were coupled with justice, fanaticism and cases of prejudice. The Spoliarium, which is often misspelled as 'Spolarium' truly exceeds the given definition of art. The Historical Triumph and Social Relevance of Juan Luna’s Spoliarium The embers of Philippine history are as colorful as the Filipinos regard for Philippine visual arts.