The Spoliarium

By: Juan Luna

The Spoliarium is a painting

by Filipino artist Juan Luna. The painting was submitted
by Luna to the Exposicin Nacional de Bellas Artes in
1884 in Madrid, where it garnered the first gold medal. In
1886, it was sold to the Diputacin Provincial de
Barcelona for 20,000 pesetas. It currently hangs in the
main gallery at the ground floor of the National Museum
of Fine Arts, and is the first work of art that greets visitors
upon entry into the museum. The picture recreates a
despoiling scene in a Roman circus where
dead gladiators are stripped of weapons and garments.

Luna, working on canvas, spent eight months

completing the painting which depicts dying
gladiators. Ambeth Ocampo wrote, "...the fact remains
that when Luna and Flix Resurreccin Hidalgo won the
top awards in the Madrid Exposition of 1884, they proved
to the world that indios could, despite their supposed
barbarian race, paint better than the Spaniards who
colonized them.
 Las Virgenes Cristianas Expuestas al
Populacho
By: Felix Hidalgo

Las Virgenes Cristianas Expuestas al Populacho or The

Christian Virgins Exposed to the Populace is a famous
1884 history painting by Filipino painter, reformist,
and propagandist Flix Resurreccin Hidalgo. The painting is
alternately known as The Christian Virgins Exposed to the
Rabble, Jovenes Cristianas Expuestas al Populacho (Christian
Maidens Exposed to the Populace), Christian Virgins Presented
to the Populace, The Christian Virgins Being Exposed to the
Populace, and Christian Virgins Exposed to the Mob.

The painting was a silver medalist (ninth silver medal award

among forty-five) during the 1884 Exposicion General de
Bellas Artes in Madrid, Spain, also known as the Madrid
Exposition. According to Raquel A.G. Reyes, Hidalgo's winning
the silver medal for the painting was a landmark achievement
that proved the ability of Filipinos to match the work
of Spaniards and laid claim to Filipino participation
in European culture.

Regarded as one of the national treasures of the

Philippines,[12] a copy of the painting is part of the art
collection of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (Central Bank
of the Philippines).[6] The original was destroyed in a fire at
the University of Valladolid in Spain.[13] Since 2015, the
painting is currently on a five-year loan to National
Gallery Singapore as part of its Southeast Asian art
galleries.
 Antipolo Fiesta
By: Fernando Amorsolo

This oil painting on canvas depicts a rural scene where a group of

people are shown celebrating a fiesta in Antipolo. The main focus
is on a pair of dancers in the field surrounded by revelers both
young and old. Abundant food is presented in basketfuls of
assorted fruits on the benches and on the ground, as well as the
traditional roasted pig or lechon being prepared by two men.
Nearby is a house with huge windows from where dwellers watch
the revelers. At the background is a huge church, a symbolic town
structure. A vast number of townsmen complete the essence of a
fiesta.

It can be said that the pair of dancers are in the usual same pose
as those of dancers in Fernando Amorsolos various well-
known tinikling-related paintings. A viewer may be quick to
surmise at a glance that this painting belongs to that category, as
the bamboo handlers in the usual tinikling dance often blend in
the crowd and are not easily distinguished. However, there are no
bamboo-handlers present in this painting simply because the
dancers are not performing the tinikling dance. Thus, this
indication is what makes this painting very unique.
 The Oblation
By: Guillermo Tolentino

The completely nude figure of a young man with outstretched arms and open hands, with tilted head,
to the allegorical Philippine Group. Katakataka is really a wonder plant. It is called siempre vivo (alw

Originally, the statue was completely naked, but, as morality was prevailing at that time,
it was modified by former U.P. President Jorge Bocobo, 4th President of UP, with the
addition of a fig leaf to cover the genitals. The sculpture was funded by the U.P.
students of 1935-1936, and was presided by Potenciano Illusorio and Jose B. Laurel,
Jr., presidents of the student council during the first and second semester respectively
and was dedicated on March 1939 at the University's Manila campus where it stayed
until February 1949, when the main administrative offices of the university moved to the
new Diliman campus in Quezon City.
 Sandugo Monument
By: Napoleon Abueva
The Sandugo or Blood Compact Shrine monument found in Bo-ol
district of Tagbilaran City is a landmark at the site of the first
international treaty of friendship between Spaniards and Filipinos.
Behind the monument is a magnificent view of BoholSea.

The Sandugo was a blood compact, performed in Bohol between

the Spanish explorer Miguel Lpez de Legazpi and Datu Sikatuna,
the chieftain of Bohol, on March 16, 1565, to seal their friendship
as part of the tribal tradition. This is considered as the first treaty
of friendship between the Spaniards and Filipinos. "Sandugo" is a
Visayan word which means "one blood"

The monument, with the bronze statues of Miguel Lopez de

Legazpi, Rajah Sikatuna and several other witnesses, was a
masterpiece of the Boholano sculptor and National Artist for
Sculpture, Napoleon Abueva.