Travel in the Time of Corona, Week 6

For Week 6 of shelter-in-place, I wanted to revisit some museums around the world and reminisce about the good old travel days through images of my favorite paintings. Travel is a deep well of learning experiences and visits to museums add color to these experiences. Photographs, videos or postcards are beautiful keepsakes we can browse over whenever we please. This time spent in isolation has given me the pause I needed to appreciate the places I’ve been and the masterpieces I had the pleasure to behold.

Las Meninas, Diego Velasquez, 1656, Museo del Prado, Madrid

The French Impressionist painter, Édouard Manet, called Velasquez a “painter of painters”. It isn’t hard to imagine why. Velasquez challenges and provokes the viewer to dig deeper than what the eye perceives at first glance, to never judge a book by its cover.

Liberty Leading the People, Eugène Delacroix, 1830, Louvre Museum, Paris

“I have undertaken a modern subject, a barricade, and although I may not have fought for my country, at least I shall have painted for her. It has restored my good spirits.” Eugène Delacroix from a letter written to his brother dated October 28, 1830

Arnolfini Portrait, Jan Van Eyck, 1434, National Gallery, London

From the fur lined coat of the man to the voluminous folds of the woman’s robe trimmed with white ermine and her lacy veil to the rug on the floor and the red drapery in the background, this double portrait of an Italian merchant and his wife intimates wealth. And, is that the painter and his assistant we see in the mirror on the back wall?

Flaming June, Frederic Leighton, 1895, Museo de Ponce, Puerto Rico

Ponce is a city on the southern coast of Puerto Rico with an amazing museum of art and Flaming June is certainly the highlight of its collection. How this masterpiece of Victorian art got to Ponce is a riveting story of lost and found and the bargain price at which it was acquired by a Latin American industrialist, Luis Ferré, who founded the Museo de Ponce.

Les Raboteurs de Parquet, Gustave Caillebotte, 1875, Musée d’Orsay, Paris

The Floor Scrapers was shunned at the Salon of 1875 in Paris. The jurors were shocked by the half clothed working class subjects and found the painting “vulgar”. But what’s interesting about this work of art is its perspective. The viewer is looking down at the floor scrapers. Observe the other masterpieces in this group and you’ll know what I mean.

The Jewish Bride, Rembrandt van Rijn, 1665-1669, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

(Also known as The Portrait of the Couple Isaac and Rebecca)

Whenever I see this painting, I’m drawn to the expressive face of the youthful bride. She intrigues me with that quivering look on her face. I’d like to know what’s on her mind, how she feels and what her life was like.

Starry Night, Vincent Van Gogh, 1889, MOMA, New York

“For my part, I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me want to dream.” Van Gogh

Let’s keep our dreams alive, especially during this strange and trying period in our lives!

*****

The images here are under Public Domain and can be found in Wiki Commons.

The Art of Carlos Botong Francisco - Progress of Medicine in the Philippines

Pre-colonial period Pag-unlad ng Panggagamot sa Pilipinas (The Progress of Medicine in the Philippines) is a group of four large-scale paintings depicting healing practices in the Philippines from pre-colonial times to the modern period. Carlos Botong Francisco was commissioned in 1953 by Dr. Agerico Sison who was then the director of Philippine General Hospital (PGH) together with Dr. Eduardo Quisumbing of the National Museum, Dr. Florentino Herrera, Jr. and Dr. Constantino Manahan. These oil on canvas paintings measure 2.92 meters in height and 2.76 meters in width (9.71 ft x 8.92 ft) and were displayed at the main entrance hall of PGH for over five decades. Owing to its location, the artworks were in a state of "severe deterioration" at the beginning of the 21st century from exposure to heat, humidity, dirt, dust, smoke, insect stains, grime, termites and an oxidized synthetic resin used in an earlier restoration. These canvases were restored three times, the last was

Filipino Struggles in History - Carlos Botong Francisco

In 1968, Antonio Villegas (then Mayor of Manila), commissioned Carlos "Botong" Francisco to paint the history of Manila for Manila City Hall. The series of large scale paintings was called Kasaysayan ng Maynila (History of Manila). The paintings deteriorated over time and no attempt was made to preserve these historical canvases until 2013 when Mayor Amado Lim sent them to the National Museum for extensive restoration. Four years later, in 2017, Mayor Joseph Ejercito Estrada and the Manila City Council signed an agreement with the National Museum to leave the paintings at the museum so they may reach a larger audience in exchange for museum grade reproductions to replace the originals. Kasaysayan ng Maynila was later renamed Filipino Struggles in History and is now on display at the Senate Hall of the National Museum . Carlos "Botong" Francisco died in March 1969, a few months after completing the paintings. He is one of the first Filipino modernists and

8 Heritage Houses of Iloilo

Lizares Mansion The province of Iloilo on the island of Panay has a rich trove of heritage houses, left over from the sugar industry boom in the 19th century. Iloilo also had the largest port in the Philippines at that time which facilitated the export of sugar to foreign shores and deposited money in the hands of the sugar barons. The barons dropped their earnings into the acquisition of properties in Negros and the construction of beautiful homes in Iloilo, many of which are located in the vicinity of the Jaro Cathedral. The Lizares Mansion was built in 1937 by Don Emiliano Lizares for his wife, Concepcion Gamboa and five children. The family fled to safety when World War II broke out and the house was occupied by the Japanese military. The family returned to the house after the war but left once again after the demise of Don Emiliano. It was sold to the Dominican order in the 1960s and was converted in 1978 to a private school, Angelicum School. The mansion now houses the

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