Dalagang Filipina
signed (lower right)
oil on canvas
26” x 31 1/2” (66 cm x 80 cm)

Provenance:
Private collection, USA

This is a typical scene in the first half of the 19th century. The painting is divided into three levels: 1) foreground, with a beauty in Filipiniana dress (with butterfly sleeves); 2) midpoint, from the nipa hut to the top of the mountain; and 3) background, where a slice of the sky spreads sideways, and partly covered by the clouds. Light from the left near the top edge, selects spots on the beauty’s dress, and the ground behind her, to highlight the diagonal flow of the creek.

-Paul Zafaralla