The education of Hidalgo

By Ambeth Ocampo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:01:00 10/08/2008


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The education of Hidalgo
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Close this Two decades ago, I visited the archives of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid in the hope of finding the academic records of Juan Luna and Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo. Their grades were secondary; what I wanted to know was what subjects they took and who their teachers were. I wanted to know what kind of education coupled with talent produced these two painters, the shining stars of Philippine art.

Unfortunately, historical research is hit or miss. Sometimes you hit the jackpot (lots of documents nobody else has seen or used before) or, if you are truly unlucky, as I was that day, you find nothing. I went through 10 big boxes of documents and found no reference to Luna and Resurreccion. I did not find the other Filipinos, like Esteban Villanueva, Miguel Zaragoza, not even Melecio Figueroa. But then as the late Salvador Laurel used to say, “Patience is bitter but its fruit is sweet.” In the last box was the biggest surprise of all: Jose Rizal’s application letter to the Academy of Fine Arts. It was not what I was looking for, but it made all my efforts worthwhile.

What could not be found in the archives was provided by Hidalgo in a letter written from Madrid on Oct. 15, 1879 to his friends Rizal and Glicerio Anson in Manila. Here he described a typical day in the Academy of San Fernando:

“Our professor in the class of ancient painting and drapery from 8 to 10 in the morning is Mr. Espalter; in that of coloring and composition from 10 to 12, Mr. Federico Madrazo; in that of pictorial anatomy from 1 to 2 in the afternoon, Mr. Ignacio Llanos; and in that of the [still life] or natural from 6.30 to 8.30 in the evening, Mr. Carlos Ribera.”

Hidalgo worked eight hours a day, broken only by a long siesta after lunch. From the names of his professors, someone should do research in 19th century Spanish painting to see what influences these teachers left on Hidalgo’s art.

He wrote further:

“They are all very good professors, but you can be very sure that what you can study [in Manila] under Mr. Agustin Saez is exactly the same as what is taught here, neither more nor less, with the difference that there you paint and draw much more comfortably than we do here, because there you have the entire hall at your disposal, while we here can hardly pick up a bad corner, often enveloped in darkness, and we have to stretch our necks to see the model who, parenthetically speaking, is almost always quite poor, though very suitable for the study of the deviations of the human form.”

Resurreccion advised Rizal and Anson: “Do not lose your courage and follow the advice of our dear professor, Agustin Saez, and in that way you will advance greatly in such a difficult study as that of painting.”

If further proof is needed that Hidalgo was trained very well in Manila, he was disappointed with school and his classmates. Coming from the colony he felt inferior at first, a “probinsyano” [provincial] in a great capital, but “upon seeing here the work of the students of the Academy, we lost our fear. On the other hand, we were greatly disenchanted because we would have liked to have as classmates people who have more mettle than the ones now attending the school for they would have served as stimulus to us.”

Whatever disappointment he had with his formal schooling was made up for by living in the capital and being exposed to the Museo del Prado: “I do not want to tell you about the Museum because I have no more time. I will only tell you that it contains the most valuable collection of paintings, more than 3,000, that is found in Europe. One leaves that building with a headache and despair in the soul, because one is convinced of the little he knows, that one is not even an atom compared with the colossi of art.”

Like Luna, who left Madrid for Rome to work with his teacher Alejo Vera, Hidalgo joined the company of Spanish painters in the Eternal City. It was in Rome that he was immersed in the history and stories of ancient Rome, thus producing “Virgenes Cristianas Expuestas al Populacho” [“Christian Virgins Exposed to the Mob”], which won a silver medal in the 1884 Madrid Exposition of Fine Arts. In the same Exposition, Luna was awarded the gold medal for “Spoliarium.” From then on Hidalgo would always be a quiet shadow to Luna.

From then on, according to our textbooks, Luna and Hidalgo became the first international Filipino painters. Then, as now, they made us feel good as a people, like Manny Pacquiao winning in the boxing ring.

However, we have to rein in our enthusiasm and remember that these gold and silver medals should not be seen as Olympic gold, silver and bronze medals. Luna did not win “first place” and Hidalgo, “second place.” Luna garnered one gold medal out of the three that were given out that year. He was not awarded the much-coveted Medal of Honor, which was withheld in 1884. Hidalgo won one silver medal out of at least 15 given out that year.

Still, for these two colonials from Manila to beat their classmates, and their professors, in Madrid means a lot, and their life and work should not remain as footnotes in our history. Luna and Hidalgo should continue to inspire even in the 21st century.

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Comments are welcome at aocampo@ateneo.edu.