PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF A DISTINGUISHED GENTLEMAN

Provenance: Provenance: Private Collection, Manila

ABOUT THE WORK

On his way back to the Philippines, in Hong Kong, he died from a heart attack. Today, his remains are in a niche at the Crypt of the San Agustin Chur ch in the Philippines. This particular landscape piece featuring a Marikina view belongs to Luna’s homecoming period. It reveals his virtuosity in oil painting and his penchant for brown and bluish-gray hues as well as the use of browns over blue-greens. In View of Mariquina, readily seen is his masterful distinct brushwork, choice of dramatic color palette, and Romantic perspective. Luna was exposed to Renaissance painters in Rome. Rizal and Graciano Lopez-Jaena, Luna’s close friends, described his paintings as influenced by Rembrandt, Daumier, and Delacroix, dramatic and vibrant with visual qualities of Romanticism. Luna’s oeuvre was influenced by foreign academic classical canons, but it is significant to note that he has championed the greatness of the Filipino through his world-class art. - From the Archives of Ramon N. V illegas