From friendship made, in friendship confirmed. This sums up the extraordinary journey of a piece of art that had found its way inadvertently into history, with its own story as equally captivating as that of the one it was modeled—or, perhaps, molded?—after. 

On Oct. 10, the Multinational Investment Bancorporation (MIB), which is now known as MIB Capital Corporation, handed over to the National Museum of the Philippines what is probably the most precious piece in its private collection, the “Bust of Juan Luna y Novicio.”

Made by Spanish sculptor Mariano Benlliure, the piece is in itself storied and historic. Benlliure met Juan Luna in Spain, while they were both studying there (as pensionados, or scholars, if you will). The mold for the bust was made in the same year—1884—that Luna, as well as Félix Resurrección Hidalgo, and Mariano Benlliure and his brother Juan Antonio participated and were recognized in the Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes in Madrid. 

Yes, the very same where Luna’s “Spoliarium” won gold and Hidalgo’s “Las Virgenes Cristianas Expuestas al Populacho” was awarded silver. The Benlliure brothers were later commissioned to create memorabilia of Juan Luna by the Spanish consul general as a gift to American governor general in the Philippines Leonard Wood, almost 40 years after the bust was made. Thereafter, the story of the bust gets even more interesting and intriguing. 

According to research done by Salcedo Auctions, which helped bring the historic bust back to the attention of the public last September, the bust was thought to have been lost amid the rubble of post-World War II Manila. Records show, however, that a metal bust—bearing the initial M and the name Juan Luna y Novico—was found by a junk collector in the 1940s and was sold for P5 to a junk dealer. This found its way to Taller de Escultura carver Ireneo Cristobal who then sold it to artist Elsie Cadapan, who also owned an antiques store in Manila. It was Inday, as she is more popularly known, who sold the bust to an affiliate of MIB. 

Salcedo Auctions admits that it is not quite certain whether the Luna bust is the same as that which was gifted to Wood or that which was from Cristobal. What is clear is that, with both Salcedo Auctions and the Benlliure Foundation affirming it so, the bust that now permanently resides at the National Museum of Fine Arts is authentic. 

That its origins are of a somewhat unclear nature does not, however, diminish its value, which goes beyond that of the historical. It is a story of friendship, between two highly recognized artists of their generation (Mariano Benlliure would later make a number of sculptures all over Spain, and design the mold of the first Spanish peseta under Francisco Franco’s time in 1947), and it confirms yet another friendship between the private arts sector and the Philippine government with the donation of the bust by MIB. Both Salcedo Auctions and MIB did not hesitate to put the sale of the Luna bust on pause, after the National Museum asked them to do so. As First Lady Lisa A. Marcos said she was pleasantly surprised that MIB’s principals—chief among them its Chairperson Marilou Cristobal and President Dindo Antonio Caguiat—as well as Salcedo Auctions Chairman Richie Lerma did not make it difficult for the National Museum. 

And why would they? As Richie says, they are proud to be part of this momentous occasion, to leave a mark in the preservation of an important part in the country’s history. A sentiment that MIB’s chairperson echoes, “We simply had thought it was the right thing to do and the right time to do it,” Marilou says. 

Mariano Benlliure’s bronze “Bust of Juan Luna y Novicio” can now be viewed by the public at the Spoliarium Hall of the National Museum of Fine Arts—a gift to the nation that came just in time, a day before the National Historical Commission of the Philippines corrected the known birth date of Juan Luna from Oct. 24 to Oct. 25, 1857.