Two Lunas & a Hidalgo
‘If you look at them, it’s just cloth and paint. Our job is to tell people its history.’
MANILA, Philippines — For its upcoming “Important Philippine Art” auction, Salcedo Auctions will be shaking up the Filipino art world again with three monumental pieces, two of which recently surfaced in Europe.
To be held on March 9 at the Three Salcedo Place saleroom, the highly anticipated auction comes with finds that will surely inspire awe once they are unveiled.
The first is a boceto for Juan Luna’s award-winning The Death of Cleopatra. Signed by Luna and inscribed with a dedication to his father, the oil on canvas painting, dated 1880, originated from the collection of one of the most widely recognized Philippine art collectors, the late Dr. Eleuterio “Teyet” Pascual.
A boceto of Juan Luna’s The Death of Cleopatra.
Meanwhile, the second Luna, The Hunting Party, is a previously unknown work. Derived from the estate of the late Doña Maria Nuñez Rodriguez, it came from the branch of her family that used to own Espana y Filipinas. Interestingly, Nuñez Rodriguez was the widow of Don Francisco Vazquez Gayoso, who inherited the paintings from his father, the mayor of the late 19th-century northern Spanish town of Sarria, Don Jose Vazquez Castiñeira.
The third painting is Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo’s Draped Nude, Reclining in a Forest Landscape, which has remained with the same family for more than 130 years. According to Salcedo, it is presumably the work referred to in the exhibition catalogue as En la Soledad del Bosque (In the solitude of the Forest) by Hidalgo.
Much like all the pieces Salcedo auctions off, the paintings have gone through a rigorous authentication process. “We’re like Sherlock Holmes for art,” Salcedo Auctions director Richie Lerma quips.
The three works are all backed up by material analysis and hyperspectral imaging by the world-renowned art forensics laboratory Art Analysis & Research in London.
“There’s no such thing as a finished list when it comes to artists, especially those who aren’t around anymore,” Richie points out. “There’s no such thing as 100 percent. You can get to 99.99 percent, and you can still have that ‘what if.’ We have to get it to as close as 100 percent.”
The Hunting Party by Juan Luna.
Other pieces to be featured in the auction are National Artist Carlos “Botong” Francisco’s narra relief sculpture, a work in marble by National Artist Napoleon Abueva, National Artist Ang Kiukok’s cubist-expressionist works, and more. Pieces by Ronald Ventura, Manuel Ocampo, Romulo Olazo and Maria Taniguchi will be presented in the sale as well.
Through it all, Richie wants to provide the delight that art brings to others. And he is glad that Filipinos trust Salcedo Auctions to do just that.
“Why do all of these Lunas and Hidalgos come to us? People bring those pieces to us because they feel we will be as passionate about those objects as they are.”
And with Salcedo’s new finds, they’re looking to share the same passion and excitement for the pieces with its next owners and other Filipinos, enriching the country’s cultural heritage with each new discovery. “If you look at them, it’s just cloth and paint. Our job is to tell people its history,” concludes Richie.
