3. SPANISH COLONIAL PERIOD
When the Spaniards arrived in the
Philippines in 1521, the colonizers
used art as a tool to propagate the
Catholic faith through beautiful
images. With communication as
problem, the friars used images to
explain the concepts behind
Catholicism, and to tell the stories of
Christ’s life and passion.
4.
5. Images of the Holy Family and
the saints were introduced to the
Filipino psyche through carved
santos, the via crucis (Stations of
the Cross), engravings on
estampitas, and through
paintings on church walls.
9. Though the ethnic art forms such as
pottery, weaving and metalwork were
retained, the Spanish friars and the
Chinese, the colony’s primary trading
partner, were slowly introducing newer art
forms. Icons brought by the friars were
used as models for sculpture. Filipino
artisans were taught the Chinese
brushwork technique in painting. Engraving
was also introduced.
10. The concept of patronage emerged.
Artisans were commissioned and
paid to carve, engrave, and paint.
They replaced the arts that were
once done in a communal spirit and
community setting for rituals. The
church, particularly the friars,
became the new patron of the arts.
11. Since most art produced during
the first two centuries of Spanish
occupation were for the church,
the friars enforced strict
supervision over their production.
Until the 19th century, art was
only for the church and religious
use.
12. Early in the 19th century, with the
opening of the Suez canal in 1869
and the development of the
agricultural export economy, native
indios acquired economic wealth
and became what was to be called
the "ilustrados," meaning
enlightened and educated.
13. These developments paved the way
for Filipinos ilustrados to send their
children to universities in Europe. The
rise of the "ilustrado" (Filipinos with
money and education) class was
inevitable. The ilustrados became the
new patron of the arts. These events
paved the way for the secularization
of art in the 19th century.
14.
15. A. PAINTING
The Spanish friars introduced
Western painting in the Philippines
to artisans who learned to copy on
two-dimensional form from the
religious icons that the friars brought
from Spain,. For the first centuries of
Spanish colonization, painting was
limited to religious icons.
16. Portraits of saints and of the
Holy Family became a familiar
sight in churches. Other subject
matters include the passion of
Christ, the Via Crucis, the
crucifixion, portrayal of heaven,
purgatory and hell.
17. Painters from the Visayas
island of Bohol were noted for
their skillful manipulation of
the technique. Their paintings
of saints and religious scenes
show figures in frontal and
static positions.
18. For the Boholano painters, the more
important persons would be
depicted bigger than the rest of the
figures. Christ normally dwarfs the
Roman soldiers in these paintings.
Unfortunately, they did not sign
their names on their works and no
record of their names exists.
19.
20. In the church in Paete, Laguna are two
works by Josef Luciano Dans (1805- ca.
1870), probably one of the earliest
recorded painters in Philippine art
history. Langit, Lupa at Impierno ca.
1850 (Heaven, Earth and Hell), a three-
level painting which shows the Holy
Trinity, Mary the Mother of
Christ, saints, the Seven Blessed
Sacraments and a macabre depiction of
21.
22. During the early part of the Spanish
occupation, painting was exclusively
for the churches and for religious
purposes. Occasionally, it was also
used for propaganda. Esteban
Villanueva of Vigan, Ilocos Sur
depicted the Ilocos revolt against
the basi monopoly in a 1821.
23. The Spanish government
commissioned the work. The
fourteen panels show the series of
events that led to the crushing of
the Ilocano basi workers revolt by
Spanish forces. It also showed the
appearance of Halley’s comet in
the Philippines during that time.
24.
25. Tagalog painters Jose Loden,
Tomas Nazario and Miguel de los
Reyes, did the first still life
paintings in the country. They
were commissioned in 1786 by a
Spanish botanist to paint the
flora and fauna found in the
country.
26. The earliest known historical
paintings in the Philippines was a
mural at the Palacio Real (Royal
Palace) in Intramuros entitled The
Conquest of the Batanes done in
1783. Unfortunately, it was
destroyed during the 1863
earthquake.
27. Secular subject matter in
painting only increased during
the 19th century. With more
tourists, ilustrados and foreigners
demanding souvenirs and
decorations from the
country, tipos del pais developed
in painting.
28. These watercolor paintings show the
different types of inhabitants in the
Philippines in their different native
costumes that show their social status
and occupation. It also became an
album of different native costumes.
Damian Domingo y Gabor (ca. 1790-
1832) was the most popular artist who
worked in this style.
29.
30.
31. Damian Domingo
AKA Damian Gabor Domingo
• 1st Filipino to paint his face, the first self-
portrait in the Philippines
• Founder of the Academia de Dibujo y
Pintura, the first school of drawing in the
Philippines (1821)
• "Father of Filipino Painting"
ALIAS
"The First Great Filipino Painter"
32. DATE OF BIRTH
1796
BIRTHPLACE
Tondo, Manila, Philippines
WIFE: Lucia Casas
CHILDREN: Celedonia, Severo, Anastacio,
Feliciana, Agapita, Mariano, Jose, and
Nicolasa YEAR OF DEATH
1834
33. PERSONAL BACKGROUND
Don Damian's father was
Spanish and his mother a
Manileña from Tondo. At an
early age he already showed
a mastery of the brush.
34. CAREER
Domingo is known for being among the
first to start painting secular subjects, a
major departure from the typical religious
paintings of the previous era. It was the
period of the rising middle class, and his
tipos del pais or paintings of native
Filipinos in their costumes were in
demand as decorative items among the
ilustrados as well as among the tourists
and foreign residents.
36. He was skilled in executing miniature
paintings, which were then in vogue as objects
to be given to lovers and friends. According to
his great grandson Alfonso Ongpin, customs of
the day did not allow formal visits and suitors
had to be content with glimpses of their
sweethearts from the street. Domingo amazed
his clients with his ability to capture a perfect
likeness of the lady in question after a few
brief sightings of her at her window.
37. It is told that his miniature portrait of Lucia
Casas so captivated the lady's father, the
wealthy colonel Don Ambrocio Casas, that
he invited the painter into his house. A
romance developed followed by a marriage
that produced eight children, including
Celedonia, Severo, Anastacio, Feliciana,
Agapita, Mariano, Jose, and Nicolasa. Two
of them, Severo and Jose, would follow in
the footsteps of their father.
38. THE FIRST FORMAL PHILIPPINE ART
SCHOOL
Domingo became the painter of choice of
Manila's prominent class. He not only
developed genre painting but also
portraiture. His fame became so
widespread that even Governor-General
Mariano Ricafort (1825-1830) sat for him.
Domingo realized the value of formal art
education, and moved his peers and
students to study art in a rigorous way
attuned to the Western world.
39.
40. DAMIAN DOMINGO
The students were taught how to draw
still life and the human form, the art
of perspective, painting in oil and
aquarelle, and the preparation of
colors and surfaces. Painters of that
epoch painted not only on canvas, but
on wood and ivory, of copper, iron,
silver, and sometimes gold.
41. He established the Academia de
Dibujo y Pintura in 1821. Two years
later another school was opened by
the Sociedad Economica Filipina de
Amigos del Pais. On 13 June 1826
both schools were fused when
Domingo was asked to teach at the
latter academy. In 1828 he was made
the director.
42. In his school he required that
there be no discrimination of the
races. The students were taught
anatomy, still life painting,
perspective drawing, the handling
of oils and watercolors, and the
preparation of colors and painting
surfaces.
43. For his talent and civic
work, Domingo was given the
honorary title of lieutenant of the
Spanish army. The French writer
Jean Mallat observed that his
miniatures displayed the mark of
great talent.
44. LEGACY
Domingo died on July 26, 1834 after a long
and progressive illness. The academy was
officially closed on May 16, 1834 due to
lack of funds.
Of his known surviving works, most are
watercolors. Among his oil paintings are
the religious works The Apotheosis of St.
Thomas Aquinas, Our Lady of the Most Holy
Rosary, The Chair of St. Peter in Rome, and
The Holy Family.
45. In 2007 Ayala Museum mounted the first
major retrospective of the spectrum of his
oeuvre, including religious images from the
Ongpin Family collection, miniature
portraits, and several versions of his
Philippine costume albums. The exhibit was
curated by a direct descendant of the
painter, Lisa Ongpin-Periquet, along with
Luciano Santiago and Deanna Ongpin-
Recto.
46.
47. Damian Domingo continued to paint religious
images. He intended these for display in his
personal shrine and this exhibition marks the
first time that the family, the artist's
descendants through the Alfonso Ongpin line,
have allowed their display in public. Fine
details show the artist's growing mastery of
the miniaturismo style. Domingo used a wide
range of materials available to artists like
wood board, ivory, copper, iron, silver, and
gold.
57. DAMIAN DOMINGO
He died about 1834, before reaching
the age of 40. His death was a great
loss not only to art but to the Filipino
movement for racial equality that was
to reach its apogee later in that
century. To his family and
motherland, he left a lasting legacy –
the greatness of the Filipinos in
painting.
58. In the early 19th century, the rise of
the ilustrados saw a rise in the art of
portraiture. The need to adorn their
newly constructed bahay-na-bato and
the want to document their new
found wealth and social status, the
ilustrados commissioned painters to
make portraits of themselves.
59. The works of painters like Simon Flores,
Antonio Malantic and Justiniano
Asuncion captured the intricately
designed jewelry and fashion
accessories, the minuet details of the
embroidered clothes, and ornately
designed domestic furniture of the
patrons. The painstaking attention to
minuet details characterized
miniaturismo.
63. Governor General Narciso Claveria in 1849
issued a decree that all Philippine natives
should assume Spanish names. Letras y
figuras (letters and figures), a style
developed by Jose Honorato
Lozano, combines both tipos del pais and
genre paintings by forming the letters of the
patron’s name from figures of people in local
costumes doing everyday activities. It also
utilized landscape scenes as background
64.
65.
66.
67. Several Filipino painters had the
chance to study and work abroad.
Among them were Juan Novicio
Luna and Felix Resureccion Hidalgo
who became the first international
Filipino artists when they won the
gold and silver medals in the 1884
Madrid Exposition.
