Provenance:
Acquired directly from the Artist by
Doña Custodia Ibaviosa y Sevilla and thence by descent

ABOUT THE WORK

Doña Custodia Ibaviosa y Sevilla of Tambobong, Old Malabon was a dignified matriarch of the family. She was twice related to the Oretas, as the mother of the paternal grandmother of Antolin M. Oreta Sr., Doña Maria Salome Ivabiosa Oreta — as well as the grand-aunt of Canuto Senen Sevilla Oreta. (Canuto’s mother, Regina Sevilla Oreta was the sister of Custodia.) At the time Antolin Sr was born in 1909, it was already considered an old painting. When the old Oreta house was demolished, the painting was rolled and stored in a closet. Eventually, a family friend would recommend that the noted restorer Suzano “Jun” Gonzalez of the National Museum would clean it. He did not do anything to the face and dress except clean it and reveal its colors. Gonzalez also used an oval frame to highlight the dowager’s face. It was Gonzalez who said that it was quite possibly painted by the 19th-century master Antonio Malantic. This Filipino virtuoso belonged to the time period between Damian Domingo and Lorenzo Guerrero. It is believed that he had some early training in the first Academia or had had private lessons from teachers who ‘derived their inspiration from European painters of the previous century.’ This portrait has all the hallmarks of a Malantic, such as the flattened perspective said to be reminiscent of Chinese art and the honest depiction of an authentic Filipino face. Because there are so few portraits by this master, Gonzalez believed, this portrait “verged on history.”