PROPERTY FROM THE DON J. ANTONIO ARANETA COLLECTION
El Pacto de Sangre (Homage to Juan Luna)
signed and dated 1939 (lower right)
oil on canvas
19" x 25 1/2" (48 cm x 65 cm)






A Rare Buenaventura Historical Painting Homage to an Iconic MasterpieceTeodoro Buenaventura's El Pacto de Sangre (Homage to Juan Luna) is a rarity, especially in the context of the material destruction that the Second World War inflicted upon the artist's major works. Many of his large-scale works were destroyed during the Second World War, and most of his extant oeuvre consists of relatively small landscapes and genre paintings. Two of the most prominent survivors of this cultural catastrophe in Buenaventura's oeuvre are the oil on canvas paintings "Banana Peddler on a Wooden Bridge" (ca. 1920s) and "Mag-Ina" (1936), both in the collection of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). Buenaventura's rendition of Luna's iconic masterpiece stands out as one of the only extant manifestations of the artist's delving into anecdotal painting, briefly veering away from his genre pieces. When Buenaventura made this rarity, four years had already passed since his retirement from his teaching post at the University of the Philippines School of Fine Arts, in which he was one of its founding teachers in 1909. Luna's 1886 masterpiece El Pacto de Sangre depicts the historic blood compact ('Sandugo') on March 16, 1565 between Miguel Lopez de Legazpi and Rajah Sikatuna of Bohol as a symbol of alliance but proved to be a critical juncture in the eventual colonization of the archipelago. Luna painted the work in conformity with an agreement with the Ayuntamiento de Manila to produce a set of paintings for the city council, which granted him a fouryear pensionado scholarship (with an annual stipend of 400 pesos for the first two years, increasing to 600 pesos for the remaining two years) to continue pursuing higher art studies in Rome after his triumphant silver medal win at the 1881 Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes in Madrid for his career-defining work "La Muerte de Cleopatra." The works Luna produced for the Ayuntamiento were Portrait of Miguel Lopez de Legazpi (destroyed during World War II), El Pacto de Sangre (now displayed at the top of the Malacañang's Grand Staircase leading to the Ceremonial Hall), Portrait of Gov. Gen. Ramon Blanco, and the unfinished La Muerte de Simón de Anda. Buenaventura's version is a faithful homage to Luna, who was already a divinity in the annals of Philippine art by then. Buenaventura exhibits his predisposition towards a muted palette, which can also be viewed in his genre works. However, Buenaventura retains the sense of apprehension present in Luna's work. The words "Hispania R." (Spain, the King) are still etched on the wall. Sikatuna's back is turned away from the viewer. At the same time, the conquistadores (who outnumber Sikatuna in the composition and whose body languages evoke condescending stances) are prominently highlighted, notably Legazpi (seated in the center), Fray Andres de Urdaneta (donned in friar's clothes), and Felipe de Salcedo (the person in full battle gear beside Urdaneta), Legazpi's grandson. The implied atmosphere of anxiety in the work is meant to evoke the impending loss of the natives' freedom under a brewing three-century colonial rule. (Adrian Maranan)