TREASURES OF AL ANDALUS, OLD MASTERS, FINE ART AND ANTIQUES
Juan Luna y Novicio
Oil on canvas, certificate by José María Quesada Valera available. Juan Luna y Novicio (Badoc, Philippines, October 23, 1857 – Hong-Kong, December 7, 1899). Canvas size: 75 x 138. Framed size: 117 x 183 cm. Provenance: formerly in a noble collection, Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Exceptional discovery, possibly the original version dated 1881 of the famous work “Spoliarium” made by Juan Luna Novicio (Badoc, Philippines, October 23, 1857 – Hong-Kong, December 7, 1899) in 1884. “Spoliarium” is a painting, considered a National Treasure and currently kept at the National Museum of the Philippines measuring 400 × 700 cm. It was first exhibited in the 1884 National Fine Arts Exposition, winning the first class medal. In 1886, it was sold to the Diputación Provincial de Barcelona for 20,000 pesetas. Taking advantage of the fact that the painting had been sent to Madrid to be restored, General Francisco Franco donated it to the government of the Philippines. It is currently on display at the National Museum of the Philippines. Only one sketch of Spoliarium is known, of later date, sold at auction in the Philippines in 2018 (Salcedo Auctions, September 22, 2018, lot 152). The work before us, dated 1881, can be considered the first version of “Spoliarium”, and may be the original work exhibited in the Philippine Room of the Historical-Natural and Ethnographic Exhibition of Madrid in 1893. Juan Luna de San Pedro, of Malaysian ethnicity, was the son of Joaquín Luna de San Pedro and Laureana Novicio y Ancheta. With Jesuit training, he studied at the Ateneo Municipal, although from a young age he did not sympathize much with the religious environment and used his free time as much as possible to learn about painting. While studying, he trained as a pilot at the naval school in Manila, working as a sailor and making several trips. During his travels he visited Singapore, Jakarta and Hong Kong, among other cities. Although he never abandoned his pictorial training during his free time, he began to collaborate with the studio of the Spanish painter Agustín Sáez Glanadell, who was active in Manila. Upon his arrival in Spain he enrolled in the School of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid. There he met Eduardo Rosales. After Eduardo’s death he made contact with Alejo Vera, and went to Rome, where he painted his most famous painting, “Spoliarium”, preserved in the National Museum of the Philippines. In Rome, he dedicated his time to deepen his knowledge of the Renaissance masters and also painted “The Death of Cleopatra”, acquired by the Spanish government for 5000 pesetas, a very high amount of money at that time. His success was fulgurant in Spain and the Philippines. References: “Breve noticia de la Exposición Histórico-Natural y Etnográfica de Madrid: planta entresuelo (1893). Madrid: Est. Tipográfico Sucesores de Rivadeneyra” ; “Ossorio y Bernard, Manuel, Galería biográfica de artistas españoles del siglo XIX [1883-1884], Madrid, Giner, 1975, p. 395” ; “Covelo López, Juan Manuel, El Pintor Juan de Luna y Novicio, El Lejano Oriente Español: Filipinas (s. XIX), Actas de las VII Jornadas Nacionales de Historia Militar, Sevilla, 1997, pgs. 865 – 872”.
