PROPERTY FROM A VERY IMPORTANT PRIVATE COLLECTION

Literature: Benesa, Leo, Alicia Coseteng, Alice Guillermo, Cid Reyes, Dr. Luciano Santiago, M.D., Cesare A.X. Syjuco, Emmanuel Torres, & Paul B. Zafaralla, Ph.D. Art Philippines. Pasig City: The Crucible Workshop, 1992. Full color illustration and painting description on page 76

ABOUT THE WORK

Master of the Paisaje by LISA GUERRERO NAKPIL Felix Martinez y Lorenzo was part of the generation of Juan Luna and Jose Rizal; a man of reliable and solid talent who would reach his zenith as the acknowledged master of the paisaje or country landscape. He would first make his mark by being selected as one of the elite group of painters for Fr. Manuel Blanco’s La Flora de Filipinas which documented the plants of the Philippine islands in glorious detail. That group included Agustin Saez, the peninsular who headed the Manila academy of art, the young Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo — who would create a sensation by almost besting Saez himself for the honor of limning the cover of the landmark botanical work — and the beloved art professor Lorenzo Guerrero. Martinez would be very much part and parcel of the Manila - Madrid art world : He would be recruited to teach at the Manila Academia’s vocational school, the Escuela de Artes y Oficios de Manila; and would participate in the major expositions organized in Spain as well as in the Philippines. This included the landmark Exposicion General de Filipinas of 1887 staged at the Crystal Palace in Retiro Park to the Exposicion Regional Filipina of 1895 in Manila. Born to a prosperous family of Sta. Cruz, Manila, Martinez is also thought to have even traveled to study at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in the Spanish capital at his family’s expense. His works are certainly to be found in the country’s national museums. What would distinguish Martinez, contribute to his skill of capturing magical moments on the fly and on the road, and ultimately make him famous was his appointment as the chief illustrator of the highly popular La Ilustracion Filipina, a position he held from 1891 to 1895. The publication was founded by the wealthy Don Jose Zaragoza y Aranquizna, older brother to Martinez’ friend and fellow artist Miguel Zaragoza. Martinez would sharpen his artistry by painting non-stop portraits of the rich and famous (including Ferdinand de Lesseps, builder of the Suez Canal and Minister for the Overseas Colonies Segismundo Moret) as well as vignettes from the news — depicting, for example, the horrendous Tondo fire — as well as facets and characters of Filipino life, such as market scenes, sampaguita and mango vendors, Chinese peddlers, cigar workers on the way to work, and the Christmas Noche Buena and Lenten Season rituals. Vistas of the Philippine countryside were all subjects that fed Martinez’ brush. He would apparently travel as north as Candon, Ilocos Sur and Cagayan to as far south as Zamboanga and all the towns of interest in between, from Magellan’s tomb in Mactan, the Calle Real of Jaro and Capiz, Obando, Negros Oriental, as well as Manila’s Sampaloc, Pandacan and Pasig. In 1894, the year this charming paisaje was painted, Martinez travels would have included Daraga in Albay, Iloilo, and Ilocos. It’s an unusual scene of a rather ramshackle nipa hut built over a wide, deep green river. A woman in a white blouse and red tapis sits on her haunches looking across the river to a covered shed. There are figures swimming in the cool water — their heads bobbing just above the white-capped current. Other persons also outlined in red are busy under a makeshift shed, perhaps drying nets, one sits astride what looks like a carabao (water buffalo.) Upon closer inspection, a large wooden door under an arch covered with vines is on the opposite bank. Two more figures clad in the black robes of Augustinian friars are outside it, one figure stands, the other seems to crouch. On the ground are sheaves being dried; a buoy floats in the river water. There is a small bamboo fence on the side; in the distance, the tall slim bamboo trees reach to the blue sky. It’s a placid scene with many secrets, an insight to the character of the painter as well as the milieu he found himself.