PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF A VERY DISTINGUISHED FAMILY

Literature: Araneta, Antonio S., ed. 1030 R. Hidalgo: Volume II, Legacy in Art. Manila: Mara, Inc., 1986. Full-color illustration and painting description on page 139.

ABOUT THE WORK

El Buen Samaritano is an oil study for a larger painting, as attested by its size and a photograph of Fernando Amorsolo posing in front of the final finished work. The piece depicts a poignant interpretation of the biblical parable of the good Samaritan. Found in the Gospel of Luke, the parable tells of the story of a man who fell victim to robbers while traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. The robbers stripped him of his garments and possessions, beat him until he passed out, and left him dying on the road. “A priest happened to be going down that road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side,” Jesus narrates. “Likewise, a Levite came to the place, and when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him was moved with compassion at the sight. He approached the victim, poured oil and wine over his wounds, and bandaged them. Then he lifted him up on his own animal, took him to an inn, and cared for him. The next day, he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction, ‘Take care of him. If you spend more than what I have given you, I shall repay you on my way back.’” The Parable of the Good Samaritan was Jesus’ answer to a scribe who asked him what one must do to inherit eternal life. Amorsolo’s take on the biblical story came after a major eye operation in 1969, the year this work was painted. Thus, the work can be seen as a form of profound thanksgiving after the success of the medical procedure, a relief from a cataract that caused his sight to gradually fail and affected his painting procedures. The work depicts the scene in which the Samaritan finds the almost lifeless body of the physically assaulted man and proceeds to attend to his immediate medical needs. The Levite, who had previously seen the dying man but chose to ignore him, is depicted as a hazy shadow on the far right, with his back turned to the viewer. “It was Papa’s standard procedure to research and study references when commissioned to paint religious paintings,” Mrs. Sylvia Amorsolo-Lazo writes in Volume II of the book Amorsolo: Love and Passion. El Buen Samaritano is one in a storied list of works Amorsolo painted during the final years of his life. The figures still retain their fluidity. However, the brush strokes are nowhere near the vigor they possessed during Amorsolo’s prime. They are now softer, and the colors are noticeably softer and subdued. But what strikes the most in this work is Amorsolo’s enduring commitment to his art even in the face of physical limitations that naturally come with age. El Buen Samaritano showcases a master who not only left an indelible legacy to Philippine art but remained humble in the face of blinding fame and extended both financial generosity and creative enlightenment to the young and struggling artists of his time. (Adrian Maranan)