JUAN LUNA

1857- 1899

Painter, Sculptor,
and Political Activist
EARLY LIFE
• Juan Luna was born on October 23, 1857, in the town of Badoc, Ilocos
Norte, Philippines.
• He was the third of seven children of Joaquín Luna de San Pedro y Posadas
and Laureana Novicio y Ancheta.
• In 1861, the Luna family moved to Manila. Juan Luna went to Ateneo
Municipal de Manila, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree.
• He excelled in painting and drawing. His interest and passion for art were
influenced by his brother, Manuel N. Luna.
• Later, Juan Luna enrolled at the Escuela Nautica de Manila (now called the
Philippine Merchant Marine Academy) and became a sailor.
• However, becoming a sailor by profession did not stop Juan from giving
free rein to his artistic passions and pursuits to perfect his skill and talent.
• He began taking lessons under the notable and influential painting teacher,
Lorenzo Guerrero.
• He further entered the Academy of Fine Arts in Manila, where he was
influenced and taught how to draw by Spanish artist Agustin Saez.
• Saez, however, was displeased by the vigorous brushstrokes of Luna and
had him discharged from the academy.
• However, Guerrero was impressed by Juan’s skill and pushed him to travel
to Madrid to further pursue his craft.
TRAVEL ABROAD
• Manuel and Juan Luna traveled to Europe in 1877. While Manuel studied
music, Juan studied painting.
• Juan enrolled himself in the Escuela de Bellas Artes de San Fernando.
• Juan’s first major artistic achievement
came in 1881, when his iconic and
remarkable work, The Death of Cleopatra,
won him a silver medal at the Exposicion
Nacional de Bellas Artes.
ARTISTIC CAREER
• Following this, his work started to garner immense fame. Juan Luna was
firmly established as a commercially successful and prolific artist.
• His unique skill in painting won him much favor with the King of Spain, who
was an influential patron and also happened to be an art enthusiast.
• Juan became a regular contributor to the Exposición Nacional de Bellas
Artes.
• In May 1884, at the Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes in Madrid, Juan
Luna won a gold medal for his painting, Spoliarium, which depicts dying
gladiators being stripped of weapons and garments in a Roman circus.
• The painter who won second place was Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo, a fellow
Filipino painter.
• Juan’s paintings are commonly described as being vigorous and dramatic,
with elements of Romanticism.
• Juan Luna is generally considered the finest and most influential painter of
the Philippines.
• His finest works include The Parisian Life,
which depicts a young, pretty woman
sitting on a sofa and three Filipino heroes
(Jose Rizal, Juan Luna, and Ariston
Bautista Lin) in the advent of the
revolution.
• Other famous works by Luna include La Batalla de Lepanto, which depicts
Don Juan of Austria in the Battle of Lepanto.

• El Pacto de Sangre (The Blood Compact) depicts the blood compact

ceremony between the Datu Sikatuna, one of the lords on the island of
Bohol, and Spanish conquistador Miguel Lopez de Legazpi.

• His paintings are showcased in some of the most prestigious museums in

the Philippines, such as the National Museum and the Lopez Museum.
FINAL YEARS AND DEATH
• Juan Luna went back to Manila in time for the explosion of the revolution
against Spain. Unluckily, on September 16, 1896, he and his brother
General Antonio Luna were arrested by the Spanish officials and accused
of organizing a revolution along with the Katipunan Secret Society.

• When Juan was released by the Spanish monarchy on May 27, 1897, and
released from prison, he promptly went to Europe.
• Juan also played a role in the revolutionary government by accepting an
appointment in 1898 to be a member of the Paris delegation working for
the diplomatic recognition of the Philippine Republic.
• In 1899, upon the signing of the Treaty of Paris (1898), Juan Luna was
selected as a member of the delegation to press for the recognition of the
Philippine government.
• He traveled back to the Philippines in December 1899, upon hearing of the
assassination of his brother Antonio by the Kawit Battalion in Cabanatuan.
However, he suffered a severe heart attack and died on December 7, 1899,
in Hong Kong.
SAMPLE WORKS
ROMANTICISM

What are the 5 characteristics of romanticism?

• Interest in the common man and childhood
• Strong senses, emotions, and feelings
• Awe of nature
• Celebration of the individual
• Importance of imagination
Why is Spoliarium famous?
"The Spoliarium" is perhaps the most iconic painting by a Filipino. In 1884, the Filipino painter, Juan Luna, earned the gold
medal at the Exposicion de Bellas Artes in Madrid for this painting. It is a recreation of Roman circus, where dead
gladiators are being dragged off the arena where they had entertained their Roman masters, with their lives. They
look very anti-heroic, stripped off their garments and weapons. The style and tone remind one of a dark painting.
It illustrates two dead gladiators being dragged by Romans at the center. On the left, scavengers eye the dead men’s
possessions while a Roman beside them raises a fist in protest. A woman mourns a loved one on the right side while an
old man searches for a body amid the smoky haze. The depiction of Roman cruelty in the painting has been interpreted as
an allegory for the state of the Philippines under Spanish rule.
SPOLIARIUM
The oil painting, which was created a little over twenty-five years after Raden Saleh’s The Arrest of
Prince Diponegoro, in 1884, depicts two fallen gladiators being dragged into the Spoliarium, a holding
area in the Roman Colosseum where corpses of fallen gladiators were brought, to be stripped of their
armour and weapons before their corpses were disposed of.

In a study in contrasts, applying dramatic chiaroscuro effects (an interplay of light and shadow), Luna
illuminates the central figures as well as the left side of the painting, where excited spectators eye the
corpses avidly and without any sign of sorrow or repulsion. Romans believed that the blood of a dead
gladiator had healing properties and could give greater vigour. Perhaps that is the reason for the
apparent eagerness and excitement in their expressions. In contrast to the charged emotions on the
left, the figures in the darkened shadowy area on the right present a sombre mood. An old man holds
up a lamp or torch, perhaps searching for his son, while a woman weeps in mourning over a dead body.

The visual rhetoric of the Romantics appealed to Luna’s passionate nature, engaging the emotions in a
compelling way with dramatic themes, vigorous brushstrokes, and heroic proportions. He applied
these techniques to great effect in Spoliarium, which won him the First of three Gold Medals awarded
at the prestigious Exposicion de Bellas Artes (Madrid Art Exposition) in May 1884.
SPOLIARIUM –
A Filipino motion graphic artist, Mark Cañega, has brought Juan Luna's “Spoliarium” to life, in
time for the celebration of the National Arts Month (February)
SPOLIARIUM
What is the importance of Spoliarium painting of Juan Luna to the Philippine history?

Spoliarium was the kind of painting that lent itself to the patriotic needs of the Filipinos and on
which Rizal and others projected a nationalistic symbolism that helped rouse the Filipinos to
rise up against the political oppression of their Spanish colonizers.

Rizal interpreted the Spoliarium as a symbol of “our social, moral, and political life: humanity
unredeemed, reason and aspiration in open fight with prejudice, fanaticism, and injustice.”
IMPRESSIONISM
Art Activity
- Challenge