WALA LANG
THE HOLY GRAIL Juan Luna's Hymen, O Hyménée was considered missing until it was found at a Spanish aristocratic family's home (Photo Leon Gallery)
There is excitement—pro and con—over the recently rediscovered Hymen, O Hyménée painted by Juan Luna and exhibited as part of Spain’s contribution to the 1889 Paris Exposition Universelle. It was held to commemorate the centenary of the French Revolution, specifically the convening of the Estates General and its climax, the Oath of the Tennis Court, and remembered today for the Eiffel Tower that was the Exposition’s centerpiece.
The painting was reportedly painted by Luna in 1886-1887 in happier times as the new husband of Maria de la Paz Pardo de Tavera, sister of his friends Trinidad and Felix Pardo de Tavera, member of a wealthy and intellectual family (they owned plenty of property in Manila, including a large area along Escolta).
Lina and Paz met in Paris and the couple were wed in 1886. They spent their honeymoon in romantic Venice, where Hymen, O Hyménée is said to have been painted. They returned to live in Paris. Despite his previous prize winners Spoliarium and La Muerte de Cleopatra, Luna was the typical struggling artist and his wife’s family paid for his studio and other costs. The couple was blessed with two children (one died an infant) but in no time, fissures appeared in their married life.
Per accounts of the mother-in-law, Luna was a temperamental wife-beater, contributed nothing toward household expenses, and was insanely jealous. Luna suspected Paz of cheating and spied on her. The two had fierce quarrels. Luna accused Paz of cheating with a Monsieur Dussaq and matters came to a head in 1892 when Luna chased after Paz and mother-in-law with a gun. The two ladies fled to the bathroom, locked the door, and apparently put shoulder to door to prevent the murderous husband’s entry. Luna fired at the door, hitting the two women. A coup-de-grace supposedly finished them off. Paz’s brother and Luna’s friend Felix had followed and Luna shot and wounded him for good measure.
Luna was charged with murder. I haven’t seen any reference to M. Dussaq in accounts of the incident, so that page of the story remains closed. Anyway, a crime of passion was not considered murder and Luna was acquitted.
THE TRAGIC ARTIST Juan Luna, while known for his award-winning paintings, was also notorious for being charged with the murder of his wife and mother-in-law
The Pardo de Taveras destroyed the contents of Luna’s studio but Hymen, O Hyménée somehow survived and ended up with a Spanish aristocratic family that sold it to Jaime Ponce de Leon of Leon Gallery in 2017. Publicity surrounding the painting’s exhibition at the Ayala Museum has focused on its origin and rediscovery and reaction has ranged from “How fantastic that the ‘Holy Grail’ has been found” to “Luna didn’t speak French and the title is wrong” and “A murderer’s work is no Holy Grail and should have been destroyed with the others.”
The feedback, mainly on social media, highlights an obvious fact. Artists are human. A Filipino artist whose works fetch millions each is rumored to have had affairs with many a nude model. Another was at one time a user of prohibited drugs. A third had so many families that he was always in debt that sometimes went unpaid. Rembrandt was supposedly difficult to get along with, etc. etc.
The most notorious personality in Western art is Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. He was a prominent Italian painter of the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Revered for his revolutionary approach to art with the masterful use of chiaroscuro and the ability to create intense, lifelike drama.
THE CONTROVERSIAL ARTIST Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, hailed as one of the most influential artists from the Baroque period, was notorious for being a brawler and committing murder
The Louvre in Paris has a renowned but controversial painting, Death of the Virgin, where a prostitute was the model. Contemporaries objected to the way the Virgin was painted (dirty, sprawled flat, and unmistakably dead) and contrary to the Biblical story that the Virgin was assumed bodily to heaven. Art lovers flock to the Villa Borghese and the San Luigi Dei Francesi in Rome, where a chapel contains three of his most famous paintings. London’s National Gallery has a marvelous Supper at Emmaus, Gemalde Gallerie in Berlin has a rather provocative Eros, etc. etc. His work influenced numerous artists who became famous in their own right including Rembrandt (Dutch), Velasquez (Spanish), and Rubens (Flemish).
At the same time, Caravaggio was quarrelsome and a volatile brawler and killed a well-connected man. Fearing retribution, Caravaggio fled Rome and took refuge in Naples, Malta, and Sicily, where incidentally he painted more masterpieces. He evidently could not help himself and, while on the lam, he continued getting into trouble, so much so that he got on the wrong side of the Knights of Malta.
SACRILEGIOUS ART? Caravaggio's Death of the Virgin drew controversies for the way the Virgin Mary is depicted
In the end, Caravaggio was hopeful of getting a pardon from the Pope and was on his way back to Rome when he died under mysterious circumstances. Luna’s life, like Caravaggio’s, was of artistic brilliance and criminal infamy. They were similar even in death. Luna passed away in Hong Kong, not without suspicion of foul play. Both died tragically, Caravaggio at age 38, Luna at 42.
But despite the tumultuous nature of their lives, both artists’ contributions and genius have been recognized: Caravaggio as one of the most influential artists of the Baroque period and Luna as the painter who brought honor to the indios of Spain’s furthest colony, the Islas del Poniente.
Their lives’ darker aspects are a reminder of the complexity of human nature. The artistic and criminal lives of the two are like the mild person who is Dr. Jekyll by day and the murderer Mr. Hyde by night. Their narratives continue to intrigue and inspire artists and art enthusiasts alike.
Note: Robert Louis Stevenson wrote the novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde about a potion that turns a mild mannered doctor into a homicidal maniac.
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