Provenance: Private Collection, London

ABOUT THE WORK

These costumed figures almost look like the works of Damian Domingo, but they were painted by his prize pupil in the Academia de Dibujo, Justiniano Asuncion y Molo (1816-1896). In the middle of the 19th century, the indigenous fashions of various peoples in the Philippines and nearby countries were featured in such periodicals as the Manila and Madrid based newspaper, El Oriente, with the caption "Tipos del Pais." The early 19th century artist Damian Domingo in collaboration with Rafael Daniel Baboom, a collector of Philippine costumes, also popularized the subject with his watercolor album "Tipos del Pais." Justiniano Asuncion was a scion of a prolific family, both in an artistic and in a genetic sense, of Sta Cruz, Manila. Three of his brothers were also painters: Antonio (1794-1849), who was called “Fray Angelico Filipino,” Mariano (194-1849), another religious painter who in his old age was the “doyen of Filipino painters” and Ambrosio (1808-1890). The older brothers may have developed their talent under their townmate Faustino Quiotan, and the younger ones under Domingo.