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<a href="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources/juan-luna-29.webp" rel="lightbox">
<img loading="lazy"  src="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources/juan-luna-29-t.webp"  alt="Juan Luna"  />
</a>
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(Juan Luna at the age of 29 from an engraving on the front cover of La Ilustracion - Revista Hispano-Americana on February 28, 1886)
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<p>
<b>Being a friend and compatriot</b> of this illustrious artist, imposes on us a duty: temperance in our judgment and in our praise. The 

praises of a friend do more harm than the criticisms of an enemy, and they make the stranger laugh. 
</p>
<h3>
Luna's Early Life
</h3>

<p>
Luna's past is short, it is the story of a plant, hidden in the ground, which forces a passage to the light in spite of a thousand 

difficulties. Juan Luna was born on the 23rd of October, 1857, in Badoc, province of Ilocos Norte, island of Luzon. To be notable seems a 

quality inherent in his name. Manuel, his older brother, who died in the flower of his years, was a musician and artist from the heart, and, 

according to Juan Luna, had a stronger disposition toward painting than he had himself; Jose, younger than he, is one of the most able 

surgeons of the Archipelago, and faces a most brilliant future; the other ones who are still preparing for their careers have begun to win 

prizes in thier concourses.  
</p>
<p>
The parents of Juan Luna moved to Manila to continue the education which they have given their sons up to then, and have here Juan spent his 

childhood which like that of all Filipinos, was without promise or hope.  Our artist obtained his elementary instruction in the colege of 

the Jesuit Fathers, and a proof of the wide horizon which the Philippines open to its youth is that Manuel and Juan, who had no hope of 

becoming more than their parents, had to study pilotage, a profession which, good as it may be, did not correspond with their aptitudes. At 

the age of seventeen, Juan and his brother were already sailing the China Sea, first as apprentices, and later as pilots. Nevertheless, to 

both of them the sea offered something more than a way for ships; Manuel heard harmonies in the waves, and Juan saw light combinations, 

tones, and colors. 
</p>




<h3>
His Art 
</h3>
<p>
But let us study the life of the painter. His taste for his vocation was awakened when he saw the drawings of his brother, Jose; he found 

them easy and copied them. Later he entered the Academia de Manila, and after a time took his master an Indio from the Philippines - not 

from India - named Guerrero and with him he studied Nature and for the first time handled colors.  We saw his first canvases, painted in 

that country so hostile to art, although all its sons are born artists, and painted under a master who had virtually taught himself.  But 

soon the palette of the master, as before that the lithographs of the Academy, offered no further mysteries to the talents of Juan Luna, and 

so his family decided at last to send him to Europe, together with his brother.  
</p>
<p>
When he arrived in Madrid, he took Don Alejo Vera as his teacher.  To him he confesses to owe his taste and style, although the Academia de 

San Fernando had honored him with a prize during the one year he studied there.  Together with Vera who loved him affectionately and who had 

great hopes for him, he roamed though Italy - the predilected aspiration of artists - and established himself at the side of Vera in Rome, 

never ceasing to listen to his counsel.  There in that city, where every artist gather this freshest laurels, he contracted an intimagte 

friendship with Maximo Benlliure, the creator in Spain of a smiling sculpture. There he painted his first picture "Daphne and Cloe",  which 

was awarded a silver medal at the Liceo de Manila; there, too, inspired by his master's work, "The Last Days of Numancia",  he painted "The 

Death of Cleopatra",  which was awarded a second prize in the Madrid Exposition of 1881, and which made a vivid impression on the entire 

press. It was then that a consejal in Manila presented a motion in the Ayuntamiento to award a pension extraordinary to Luna, a motion 

which, supported by the Philippine colony in Madrid and by Spanish painters in Rome, has the rare fortune to be considered, and, against all 

custom, even adopted. The Philippines ought to remember and love the name of Don Francisco de Rodoreda, one of the few who have been 

faithfully interested in the sons of this soil. 
</p>
<h3>
The Spoliarium 
</h3>
<p>
In July, 1883, he began work on "The Spoliarium",  unterrified by any obstacle. After eight months, and at great sacrifice, he completed it, 

and astounded all who came to his studio in the Via Margutta. The great Morelli saluted him with enthusiasm and recommended him to the 

admiration of his pupils. The Roman press, surprised in the encountering of his name, made him generally known. "The Spoliarium" was 

exhibited in the Palazzo della Esposizione, granted by the Italian Government for this purpose, and all Rome, even the King and Queen, 

rendered admiration and homage to "the stranger who treats national matters with such sentiment". Some time ater, "The Spoliarium" drew the 

attention of all Madrid in the Exposition of 1884. To speak of the impeso it made and of the praise it called forth, would be to repeat what 

the whole world knows. It obtained the first of first prizes, and the Filipino youth of Europe presented the illustrious artist with a 

palette decorated with laurels. "The Spoliarium" which fascinates and moves the be. holder, wresting tears from his somber eyes, is the 

condemnation of the despotism and barbarism of a great people by a smaller one, but desirous of light and liberty. The first copy of the 

painting was made by a Russian! Barcelona, which recently admired this painting, will have the fortune of keeping it, it having been 

acquired by the Committee of the Province. 
</p>


The life and art of Juan Luna according to Dr. Jose Rizal