Juan Luna de San Pedro y Novicio
Juan Luna c. 1899
Birth name	Juan Luna y Novicio
Born	October 23, 1857 (1857-10-23) Badoc, Ilocos Norte, Philippines
Died	December 7, 1899 (1899-12-08) (aged 42) Hong Kong
Field	Painting, drawing, sculpting
Movement	Romanticism, Realism
Works	Spoliarium, 1884, The Death of Cleopatra, 1881 El Pacto de Sangre, 1884 La Batalla de Lepanto, 1887 The Parisian Life, 1892 in museums: National Museum of the Philippines Ayala Museum Metropolitan Museum of Manila Lopez Museum Government Service Insurance System Malacañang Palace

Juan Luna y Novicio (October 23, 1857 — December 7, 1899) was an Ilocano Filipino painter, sculptor and a political activist of the Philippine Revolution during the late 19th century. He became one of the first recognized Philippine artists.

His winning the gold medal in the 1884 Madrid Exposition of Fine Arts, along with the silver win of fellow Filipino painter Félix Resurrección Hidalgo, prompted a celebration which was a major highlight in the memoirs of members of the Propaganda Movement, with the fellow Ilustrados toasting to the two painters' good health and to the brotherhood between Spain and the Philippines.

Regarded for work done in the manner of the Spanish and French academies of his time, Luna painted literary and historical scenes, some with an underscore of political commentary. His allegorical works were inspired with classical balance, and often showed figures in theatrical poses.

Early life[link]

Juan Luna, self portrait.

Born in the town of Badoc, Ilocos Norte in the northern Philippines, Juan Luna was the third among the seven children of Don Joaquin Luna de San Pedro y Posadas and Doña Laureana Novicio y Ancheta. In 1861, the Luna family moved to Manila and he went to Ateneo Municipal de Manila where he obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree. He excelled in painting and drawing, and was influenced by his brother, Manuel Luna, who, according to Filipino patriot José Rizal, was a better painter than Juan himself.

Luna enrolled at Escuela Nautica de Manila (now Philippine Merchant Marine Academy) and became a sailor. He took drawing lessons under the illustrious painting teacher Lorenzo Guerrero of Ermita, Manila. He also enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts (Academia de Dibujo y Pintura) in Manila where he was influenced and taught how to draw by the Spanish artist Agustin Saez. Unfortunately, Luna's vigorous brush strokes displeased his teacher and Luna was discharged from the Academy. However, Guerrero was impressed by his skill and urged Luna to travel to Spain to further pursue his studies.

Travel abroad[link]

The Death of Cleopatra, 1881, Museo del Prado.

In 1877 Manuel and Juan Luna traveled to Europe, where Manuel studied music and Juan painting. Juan entered the Escuela de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, where he befriended the painter Don Alejo Vera. Luna was discontented with the style of teaching in school and decided that it would be much better to work with Vera. Vera brought him to Rome for some of his commissions, and Luna was exposed to the art of the Renaissance painters. It was in 1878 when his artistic talents was established with the opening of the first art exposition in Madrid which was called the Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes (National Demonstration of Beautiful Arts). From then on, Luna became engrossed in painting and produced a collection of paintings that he exhibited in the 1881 Exposition.

His La Muerte de Cleopatra (The Death of Cleopatra) won him a silver medal and came in second place. Luna's growing reputation as an artist led to a pensionado (pension) scholarship at 600 pesos annually through the Ayuntamiento of Manila. The condition was that he was obliged to develop a painting which captured the essence of Philippine history which would then become the Ayuntamiento's property.

As an artist[link]

In 1883 Luna started the painting demanded of him by the Ayuntamiento. In May 1884, he shipped the large canvas of the Spoliarium to Madrid for the year's Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes. He was the first recipient of the three gold medals awarded in the exhibition and Luna gained recognition among the connoisseurs and art critics present. On June 25, 1884, Filipino and Spanish nobles organized an event celebrating Luna's win in the exhibition. That evening, Rizal prepared a speech for his friend, addressing the two significant things of his art work, which included the glorification of genius and the grandeur of his artistic skills.

Luna developed a friendly relationship with the King of Spain and was later commissioned by the Spanish Senate to paint a large canvas which was called the La Batalla de Lepanto (The Battle of Lepanto). He moved to Paris in 1885 where he opened his own studio and befriended Hidalgo. A year after, he finished the piece El Pacto de Sangre (The Blood Compact) in accordance with the agreement he had with the Ayuntamiento of Manila. Depicted in this piece was the blood compact ceremony between the Datu Sikatuna, one of the lords in Bohol island, and the Spanish conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi. It is now displayed in the Malacañang Palace. He also sent two other paintings in addition to the one required; the second canvas sent to Manila was a portrait of López de Legazpi reconstructed by Luna from his recollection of a similar portrait he saw in the hall of the Cabildo, and the third was of Governor-general Ramón Blanco y Erenas.

In 1887, Luna once again traveled back to Spain to enter in that year's Exposition two of his pieces, the La Batalla de Lepanto and Rendición de Granada (Surrender of Granada), which both won in the exhibition. He celebrated his triumph with his friends in Madrid with Graciano López-Jaena delivered Luna a congratulatory speech. Luna's paintings are generally described as being vigorous and dramatic. With its elements of Romanticism, his style shows the influence of Delacroix, Rembrandt, and Daumier.

Marriage[link]

On December 8, 1886, Luna married Maria de la Paz Pardo de Tavera, a sister of his friend Felix and Trinidad Pardo de Tavera. The couple traveled to Venice and Rome and settled in Paris. They had one son, whom they named Andrés, and a daughter nicknamed Bibi who died in infancy. Luna was fond of painting his wife. However, the jealous Luna frequently accused Paz of having an affair with a certain Monsieur Dussaq. Finally in a fit of jealousy, he killed his wife and mother-in-law and wounded his brother-in-law, Felix, on September 23, 1892. He was arrested and murder charges were filed against him.

Luna was acquitted of charges on February 8, 1893, on grounds of temporary insanity; the "unwritten law" at the time forgave men for killing unfaithful wives.^[1] He was ordered to pay the Pardo de Taveras a sum of one thousand six hundred fifty one francs and eighty three cents, and an additional twenty five francs for postage, in addition to the interest of damages. Five days later, Luna went to Madrid with his brother, Antonio Luna, and his son, Andrés.

Final years[link]

In 1891 Luna moved back to the Philippines and traveled to Japan in 1896, returning during the Philippine Revolution of the Cry of Balintawak. Unfortunately, on September 16, 1896, he and his brother Antonio Luna were arrested by Spanish authorities for being involved with the Katipunan rebel army. Despite his imprisonment, Luna was still able to produce a work of art which he gave to a visiting priest. He was pardoned by the Spanish courts on May 27, 1897 and was released from prison and he traveled back to Spain. In 1898, he was appointed by the executive board of the Philippine revolutionary government as a member of the Paris delegation which was working for the diplomatic recognition of the República Filipina (Philippine Republic). In 1899, upon the signing of the Treaty of Paris (1898), Luna was named a member of the delegation to Washington, D.C. to press for the recognition of the Philippine government.

He traveled back to the Philippines in December 1899 upon hearing of the murder of his brother Antonio by the Kawit Battalion in Cabanatuan. On December 7, 1899, Luna suffered a heart attack and died there. His remains were buried in Hong Kong and in 1920 were exhumed and kept in Andrés Luna's house, to be later transferred to a niche at the Crypt of the San Agustin Church in the Philippines. Five years later, Juan would be reinstated as a world renowned artist and Peuple et Rois, his last major work, was acclaimed the best entry to the Saint Louis World's Fair in the United States. Unfortunately some of his paintings were destroyed by fire in World War II.

Paintings and Drawings by Juan Luna[link]

• 

  Bay of Biscay

• 

  Chula

• 

  Despues del Baile

• 

  El Violinista

• 

  En el Balcon

• 

  España y Filipinas

• 

  Ramon Blanco y Erenas

• 

  Idilio

• 

  Indio Bravo

• 

  José Rizal

• 

  La Bulaqueña

• 

  La Madrileña (En el Balcon)

• 

  La Marquesa de Monte Olivar

• 

  Manuel Luna

• 

  Mi Hijo Andres

• 

  Nena y Tinita

• 

  Odalisque

• 

  Picnic in Normandy

• 

  Puesta del Sol

• 

  Self portrait

• Juan Luna Spoliarium.jpg

  Spoliarium

• 

  Street Flower Vendor

• 

  Tampuhan

• 

  La Batalla de Lepanto

• 

  El Pacto de Sangre

• 

  La Muerte de Cleopatra

• 

  The Parisian Life

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Juan Luna

See also[link]

• Spoliarium
• El Pacto De Sangre
• España y Filipinas
• Antonio Luna

Publications[link]

• Manuel, Arsenio. Dictionary of Philippine Biography, Volume II. Manila: Regal Printing Company, 1970.
• Ocampo, Ambeth R. "Juan Luna's Works." Philippine Daily Inquirer, 24 October 2007.
• Sevilla, José N. Sa Langit ng Bayang Pilipinas. Mga Dakilang Pilpino o Ang Kaibigan ng mga Nag-aaral. Manila: Limbagan nina Sevilla at mga kapatid at Kn., 1922.

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• INQUIRER.net: Juan Luna's work
• López Memorial Museum: Juan Luna

v t e Juan Luna Works Spoliarium • El Pacto de Sangre • La Muerte de Cleopatra • La Batalla de Lepanto • La Bulaqueña • The Parisian Life • La Madrileña (En el Balcon) • Mi Novia • Tampuhan • Peuple et Rois • Ecce Homo • Las Damas Romanas • Ensueños de Amor • Daphne and Chloe • Hymen o Hymenee • España y Filipinas • Odalisque Series Chula series • Peuple et Rois (Sketches)

v t e Filipino painters Pacita Abad · Martino Abellana · Federico Aguilar Alcuaz · Fernando Amorsolo · Pablo Amorsolo · Isidro Ancheta · Marcel Antonio · Luis Eduardo Aute · Benedicto Cabrera · Fabian de la Rosa · Victorio C. Edades · Botong Francisco · Paco Gorospe · Félix Resurrección Hidalgo · José T. Joya · Ang Kiukok · Cesar Legaspi · Nestor Leynes · Juan Luna · Arturo R. Luz · Malang · Vicente Manansala · Jao Mapa · Maningning Miclat · Hernando R. Ocampo · Onib Olmedo · Alfonso A. Ossorio · Mario Parial · José Rizal · Danny Sillada · Romeo Villalva Tabuena · Fernando Zóbel de Ayala y Montojo Category:Filipino painters

Saint Juan Diego
Juan Diego by Miguel Cabrera
Born	c. (1474-07-12)July 12, 1474[1] Calpulli of Tlayacac, Cuauhtitlan, Mexico
Died	May 30, 1548(1548-05-30) (aged 73) Tenochtitlan, Mexico City, Mexico
Honored in	Roman Catholic Church
Beatified	April 9, 1990, Vatican City, Rome by Pope John Paul II
Canonized	July 31, 2002, Basilica of Guadalupe, Mexico City, Mexico by Pope John Paul II
Major shrine	Basilica of Guadalupe, Mexico City, Mexico
Feast	December 9
Attributes	tilma

Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin or Juan Diego (1474–May 30, 1548) was, according to Mexican Catholic tradition, an indigenous Mexican who reported a Marian apparition, Our Lady of Guadalupe, in 1531. The apparition has had a significant impact on the spread of the Catholic faith within Mexico. The Roman Catholic Church canonized him in 2002, as its first indigenous American saint.

The reality of Juan Diego's existence has been questioned by a number of experts on the early religious history of New Spain including Bernardino de Sahagun, Joaquin Garcia Icazbalceta, Stafford Poole, Louise Burkhart and David Brading, who argue that there is a complete lack of sources about Juan Diego's existence prior to the publication of the Nican Mopohua a century later, in 1649 (they do not accept the validity of the Codex Escalada as historical evidence).^[2] Notwithstanding these doubts, the findings of an interdisciplinary study, by nearly two dozen experts involving a prominent Mexican university and a noted American scholar of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican linguistics and anthropology, all indicated authenticity of the document and 16th century origin.^[3][4]

Sources[link]

This section cites its sources but does not provide page references. You can help to improve it by introducing citations that are more precise.

The two primary sources to the life of Juan Diego are from 1648 and 1649. The first account, Imagen de la Virgen Maria, Madre de Dios de Guadalupe, Milagrosamente aparecida en la Ciudad de México, was written in Spanish by the priest Miguel Sánchez. It relates how Juan Diego witnessed the apparitions, how he informed Bishop Zumárraga, the miracles of the tilmahtli and the roses, the apparition to Juan Bernardino (Juan Diego's uncle), and how the shrine to Guadalupe was instated. According to contemporary sources this was the first time the apparition story was told to a wide audience.^[5] Some historians have suggested that Sánchez built his account on an indigenous oral tradition local to the area, a variant of the earlier legend of the appearance of the Virgin of Los Remedios.^[6] The Virgin of Remedios was a popular saint to whom several miraculous curings were attributed, among them the curing of an indigenous herdsman near Tepeyac and of a construction worker in Tacuba. The stories of the Virgen de Guadalupe and Virgen de Los Remedios have several similarities, and have often been confused. Historians have suggested that the Nican Mopohua can be understood as a variation of the legend of the miracle of the Virgin de los Remedios.^[7]

The second source which is more famous than Sánchez' and goes into more detail about Juan Diego is the Huei tlamahuiçoltica (which include "Nican Mopohua") written in Classical Nahuatl by Mexican priest and lawyer Luis Laso de la Vega and published in 1649.

The historic veracity of both sources are considered questionable by many historians.^[8] The primary doubts arise in the dearth of sources about the apparition and consequently about Juan Diego in the 117 years between the time given for the apparition and the first publication of the story. Also the fact that the story was described as being previously unknown by those who read its first publication. Furthermore the fact that Bishop Zúmarraga who figures as a prominent character in the account has not left any mention of either Juan Diego or the apparition in his otherwise ample correspondence is a problem for the credibility of the accounts.^[9] The problems with the historicity of Juan Diego was recognized as early as 1883 by Joaquín García Icazbalceta historian and the biographer of Archbishop Juan de Zumárraga, in private letter to the Mexican Bishop Icazbalceta concluded that there was no historical basis for the character of Juan Diego.

In 1995 a deer skin codex pictorially demonstrating the apparition and the life of Juan Diego appeared in the possession of Xavier Escalada, a Jesuit writing an encyclopedia of the Guadalupan tradition. This unprovenanced document, previously unknown to historians and archivists, became referred to as the Codex Escalada. This was at a time when the process of canonization was at a halt and historians and theologians were beginning to voice doubts about the veracity of the legend. The Codex seemed to provide ineffable proof of the historicity of the accounts of Sánchez and Laso de la Vega. To further strengthen its force of proof it bore the signatures of the important historical figures Antonio Valeriano and Bernardino de Sahagún which seemed to date it unequivocally to the mid 16th century around the time of the apparition. The sheer timing of the Codex' appearance was seen by some historians as suspicious, and the source is not regarded by them as an historical document but rather a fabrication.^{[page needed][10]} The Codex, however, was studied by approximately twenty experts in various specialties, including the Physics Institute of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and anthropologist, linguist, and scholar of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures, Charles E. Dibble of the University of Utah, as well by experts in graphology from the Bank of Mexico; the findings all indicate authenticity of the document and 16th century origin.^[3][4]

Life[link]

According to the Nican Mopohua, Juan Diego was born in 1474 in the calpulli of Tlayacac in Cuautitlán, a small Indian village some 20 km (12mi) to the north of Tenochtitlan (Mexico City). Another source indicated that Juan Diego was born on July 12, 1474.^[11]

His original or birth name was Cuauhtlatoatzin^[12] (alternately rendered as Quauhtatoatzin, Guauhtlatoatzin, or Cuatliztactzin), which has been translated as "Talking Eagle" in the Nahuatl language.

Conversion to Catholicism[link]

A farmer, landowner and weaver of mats, he witnessed the Spanish conquest of Mexico by Hernán Cortés in 1521, when he was 47 years old. Following the invasion, in 1524, the first 12 Franciscan missionaries arrived in what is now Mexico City.

Cuauhtlatoatzin and his wife welcomed the Franciscans in 1524 or 1525 and were among the first to be baptized — he taking the Christian name of Juan Diego; she, Maria Lucia. Later, they moved to Tolpetlac to be closer to Tenochtitlan (Mexico City) and the Catholic mission that had been set up by the Franciscan friars.

According to his legend, after hearing a sermon on the virtue of chastity, they reportedly decided to live chaste lives^{[citation needed]} . This decision was later cited as a possible reason for which the Virgin Mary chose to appear to Juan Diego^{[citation needed]} . In 1529, a few years after her baptism, Maria Lucia became sick and died. According to Sánchez' account Juan Diego and his wife had lived in celibacy for their entire lives; this would be extraordinary since he lived the first 47 years of his life according to pre-Columbian indigenous customs that only prescribed celibacy for the highest priesthood. The Nican Mopohua adds the detail about his celibacy beginning after his first sermon. Juan Diego found the Virgin Mary when he was 57.^[9]

Apparition on Tepeyac Hill[link]

As a widower, Juan Diego walked every Saturday and Sunday to church, and on cold mornings, wore a woven cloth called a tilma, or ayate made with coarse fibers from the maguey cactus for cotton was only used by the upper class Aztec.

On Saturday morning, December 9, 1531, he reported the following: As he was walking to church, he heard the sound of birds singing on Tepeyac hill and someone calling his name. He ran up the hill, and there saw a Lady, about fourteen years of age, resembling an Aztec princess in appearance, and surrounded by light. The Lady spoke to him in Nahuatl, his native tongue. She called him “Xocoyte,” her little son. He responded by calling her “Xocoyote,” his youngest child. The Lady asked Juan Diego to tell the bishop of Mexico, a Franciscan named Juan de Zumárraga, that she wanted a “teocalli,” a shrine, to be built on the spot where she stood, in her honor, where:

"I will demonstrate, I will exhibit, I will give all my love, my compassion, my help and my protection to the people. I am your merciful mother, the merciful mother of all of you who live united in this land, and of all mankind, of all those who love me , of those who cry to me, of those who seek me, of those who have confidence in me. Here I will hear their weeping, their sorrow and will remedy and alleviate all their multiple sufferings, necessities and misfortunes."

Recognizing the Lady as the Virgin Mary, Juan Diego went to the bishop as instructed, but the Spanish bishop, Fray Juan de Zumárraga was doubtful and told Juan Diego he needed a sign. Juan Diego returned to Tepeyac hill and explained to the Lady that the bishop did not believe him. He implored the Lady to use another messenger, insisting he was not worthy. The Lady however insisted that it was of the utmost importance that it be Diego speaking to the bishop on her behalf. On Sunday, Juan Diego did as the Lady directed, but again the bishop asked for a sign. Later that day, the Lady promised Juan Diego she would give him a sign the following day.

According to the Nican Mopohua, he returned home that night to his uncle Juan Bernardino’s house, and discovered him seriously ill. The next morning, December 12, Juan Diego decided not to meet with the Lady, but to find a priest who could administer the last rites to his dying uncle. When he tried to skirt around Tepeyac hill, the Lady intercepted him, assured him his uncle would not die, and asked him to climb the hill and gather the flowers he found there. It was December, when normally nothing blooms in the cold. There, Diego's miracle of the roses occurred: he found roses from the region of Castille in Spain, former home of bishop Zumárraga. The Lady re-arranged the roses carefully inside the folded tilma that Juan Diego wore and told him not to open it before anyone but the bishop. When Juan Diego unfolded his tilma before the Bishop roses cascaded from his tilma, and an icon of Our Lady of Guadalupe was miraculously impressed on the cloth, bringing the bishop to his knees.

According to the Nican Mopohua Zumárraga acknowledged the miracle and within two weeks, ordered a shrine to be built where the Virgin Mary had appeared. The bishop then entrusted the image to Juan Diego, who chose to live, until his death at about the age of 73 — on May 30, 1548 — as a hermit near the spot where the Virgin Mary had appeared. From his hermitage he cared for the chapel and the first pilgrims who came to pray there, propagating the account of the apparitions in Mexico.

No records prior to 1648 exist showing that Bishop Zumárraga acknowledged the miracle or that he even knew of it.^[13]

Impact on Mexico and the Catholic Church[link]

This article's factual accuracy is disputed. Please help to ensure that disputed facts are reliably sourced. See the relevant discussion on the talk page. (September 2007)

According to the traditional account, the original image of Our lady of Guadalupe miraculously appeared on the cloak of Juan Diego, on the hill of Tepeyac near Mexico City on December 12, 1531.

News of the apparition on Tepayac Hill spread quickly through Mexico; and in the seven years that followed, 1532 through 1538, the Indian people accepted the Spaniards and 8 million people were converted to the Catholic faith.

According to Daniel Lynch, director of the Apostolate of the Missionary Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, “An amazing thing happened. Indians became reconciled to Spaniards. And we had a new race of people. Mixed blood. We called them "Mestizos". Our Lady of Guadalupe had appeared as a Mestiza. They call her the dark virgin, the little brown one.”

Our Lady of Guadalupe, as the Virgin Mary came to be known in this context, still underpins the faith of many Catholics in Mexico and the rest of Latin America, and she is recognized as patron saint of all the Americas.

Interestingly, the years 1532 to 1538 which saw a large number of people join the Roman Catholic Church in Mexico based on Juan Diego's vision, were right in the midst of the period of Protestant Reformation in Europe. Hence as a large number of people left the Catholic Church in Europe, a large number of new Catholics appeared in Mexico, maintaining the overall strength of the Catholic Church. To this day, Latin America remains a major pillar of the Catholic Church.

Investigations, canonization and symbolism[link]

Juan Diego was recognized by the Church soon after the apparition. He expressed a deep love for the Holy Eucharist, and by special permission of the Bishop he received Holy Communion three times a week, a highly unusual occurrence in those times.

In 1667, a Church investigation into the establishment of a feast day produced a document known as the Informaciones Jurídicas de 1666, purporting to gather information from informants whom had had some connection with Juan Diego. In 1723 a formal investigation into his life was ordered by Archbishop Lanziego y Equilaz.

Veneration[link]

On January 9, 1987, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints declared Juan Diego venerable. Pope John Paul II beatified him on May 6, 1990, during a Mass at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, declaring December 9 Juan Diego's feast day, one day after Immaculate Conception and invoking him as “protector and advocate of the indigenous peoples.”

Controversy over the historical authenticity of Juan Diego was stirred in 1996 by Father Guillermo Schulenburg, a longtime abbot of the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, who called Juan Diego a mythical character.

The Vatican subsequently established a commission of 30 researchers from various countries to investigate the question. The commission's view was that Juan Diego had indeed existed, and the results of their research were presented to the Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints on October 28, 1998. Among research documents submitted at that time were 27 Guadalupe Indian documents.

Canonization[link]

Juan Diego was canonized by Pope John Paul II on July 31, 2002.^[14] Pope John Paul II praised Juan Diego for his simple faith nourished by catechesis and pictured him (who said to the Blessed Virgin Mary: "I am a nobody, I am a small rope, a tiny ladder, the tail end, a leaf") as a model of humility.

Symbolism[link]

By 1820, when the Mexican War of Independence from Spanish colonial rule ended, Our Lady of Guadalupe had come to symbolize the Mexican nation. The armies of both Miguel Hidalgo in 1810 and Emiliano Zapata in 1914 flew Guadalupan flags. The first president of Mexico adopted the name "Guadalupe Victoria" during the fight for independence from Spain. Today, the Virgin of Guadalupe remains a strong national and religious symbol in Mexico.

Many Mexicans also see the canonization of Juan Diego as a symbolic victory in the movement for greater recognition of their heritage reflected in the Catholic religion; Pope John Paul II held a Mass in Mexico that borrowed from Aztec traditions, including a reading from the Bible in Nahuatl. The Pope urged the Catholic Church in Mexico to be respectful of indigenous traditions and to incorporate them into religious ceremonies when appropriate.

Controversy over official depiction[link]

There was controversy over the official image of Juan Diego selected by the Archdiocese of Mexico City in 2002. Critics feel that it depicts Juan Diego as having European features rather than the features of a Mexican Indian. Church officials responded that the depiction reflected the current ethnic make-up of Mexico.^[15]

See also[link]

• Our Lady of Guadalupe
• Miracle of the roses

Notes[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Sancta.org: Saint Juan Diego
• Biography from the Holy See for Juan Diegos Canonization
• Juan Diego at the Rosary Workshop
• Latin America's Indigenous Saint Stirs Anger, Pride, LA Times, July 30, 2002

Diego Luna
Luna at the Deauville American Films Festival, 2010
Born	Diego Luna Alexander (1979-12-29) December 29, 1979 (age 32) Mexico City, Mexico
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1982–present
Spouse	Camila Sodi (m. 2008) «start: (2008)»"Marriage: Camila Sodi to Diego Luna" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Diego_Luna)

Diego Luna (born December 29, 1979) is a Mexican actor known for his childhood telenovela work, a starring role in the film Y tu mamá también, and supporting roles in American films. He is also known for his roles in Rudo y Cursi and Milk. Together with Romola Garai, he starred the film Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights. Luna also had minor roles in Frida and Before Night Falls. He also provides Spanish language narration for the National Geographic Channel documentary Great Migrations.

Personal life[link]

Luna was born Diego Luna Alexander in Mexico City; the son of Fiona Alexander, an English costume designer,^[1] and Alejandro Luna, a Mexican set designer^[2] who is one of the most acclaimed living theatre, cinema, and opera set designers in Mexico. His mother died in a car accident when he was two years old.^[3] She had worked in the film industry and had made sure that this was a life Luna would be immersed in. His father also reinforced the importance of theater and the arts in his life. In Luna's youth, he would bring him to the sets and mentor him in all different aspects of his art, furthering his desire to become an actor and uphold a family tradition.

Luna wed Mexican actress Camila Sodi on February 5, 2008 and their son Jerónimo was born in Los Angeles on August 9, 2008.^[4] They welcomed daughter Fiona, named after Luna's late mother, on July 1, 2010 in Mexico City.^[5]

Luna co-founded the organization and film festival Ambulante A.C.^[6] along with his friend Gael Garcia Bernal. The organization works to bring documentary films to places where they are rarely shown. Ambulante was awarded the Washington Office on Latin America's prestigious Human Rights Award in 2011^[7].

Career[link]

Luna at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival.

From an early age, Luna began acting in television, film, and theatre. His first television role was in the 1991 movie El Último Fin de Año. His next role was in the telenovela El Abuelo y Yo (1992) alongside his childhood best friend, Gael García Bernal, in 1995 he played the role of Laura León' troubled son Quique in the Mexican soap opera El premio mayor. Luna had his big break in 2001 when he was cast in the critically acclaimed Y tu mamá también , once again alongside García Bernal.

He is currently making a name for himself in the United States market, having starred alongside Bon Jovi in Vampires: Los Muertos (2002) and the Academy Award-winning Frida (2002). He was also in the western Open Range, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, The Terminal, and Criminal. In 2008, he appeared in the Harvey Milk biopic Milk playing Milk's emotionally unstable lover Jack Lira.

Luna and Gael García Bernal own Canana Productions. The company recently joined with Golden Phoenix Productions owned by producer Tom Golden of Hot Springs, Arkansas, to jointly produce a number of television documentaries about the unsolved murders of more than 300 women in the border city of Ciudad Juárez.^{[citation needed]} For the fourth time Luna reunites with fellow friend Gael García Bernal, this time in the American Spanish-language comedy film Casa de Mi Padre opposite Will Ferrell.^[8] In 2011, Luna played the male lead in Katy Perry's music video, The One That Got Away.^[9]

Filmography[link]

Director[link]

• Abel (2010)
• J.C. Chávez (2007)

Films[link]

• Elysium (2013)
• Casa de Mi Padre (2012)
• Contraband (2012)
• In the Playground (2010)
• Sólo quiero caminar (2009)
• Milk (2008)
• Rudo y Cursi (2008)
• Mister Lonely (2007)
• El Búfalo de la Noche (2007)
• JC Chávez (directorial debut, 2007)
• Toto (2006)
• Fade to Black (2006)
• Sólo Dios Sabe (2005)
• Amapola (2005)
• Criminal (2004)
• The Terminal (2004)
• Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (2004)
• Nicotina (2003)
• Open Range (2003)
• Carambola (2003)
• Soldados de Salamina (2003)
• Vampires: Los Muertos (2002)
• Frida (2002)
• Ciudades Oscuras (2002)
• Todos los Aviones del Mundo (2001)
• Atlético San Pancho (2001)
• Y tu mamá también (2001)
• Before Night Falls (2000)
• Todo el Poder (1999)
• Un Dulce Olor a Muerte (1999)
• El Cometa (1999)
• Un Hilito de Sangre (1995)
• Morena (1995)
• Ámbar (1994)
• El Último Fin de Año (1991)
• Antonieta (1982)

Soap operas[link]

• La Vida en el Espejo (1999)
• El Amor de mi Vida (1998)
• El Premio Mayor (1995)
• El Abuelo y Yo (1992)

Music Videos[link]

• The One That Got Away (Katy Perry song) (2011)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Diego Luna at the Internet Movie Database
• Diego Luna on Twitter
• Diego Luna on Myspace
• Diego Luna photo

Fernando Amorsolo y Cueto (May 30, 1892 – April 24, 1972) is one of the most important artists in the history of painting in the Philippines.^[1] Amorsolo was a portraitist and painter of rural Philippine landscapes. He is popularly known for his craftsmanship and mastery in the use of light. Born in Paco, Manila, he earned a degree from the Liceo de Manila Art School in 1909.^[2][3]

Biography[link]

Formative years[link]

Fernando Amorsolo was born on May 30, 1892 in the Paco neighborhood, when Manila was still under Spanish sovereignty, to Pedro Amorsolo, a book keeper, and Bonifacia Amorsolo née Cueto. Amorsolo spent his childhood in Daet, Camarines Norte, where he studied in a public school and was tutored at home in Spanish language reading and writing. After his father's death, Amorsolo and his family moved to Manila to live with Don Fabian de la Rosa, his mother's cousin and a Philippine painter. At the age of 13, Amorsolo became an apprentice to De la Rosa, who would eventually become the advocate and guide to Amorsolo's painting career. During this time, Amorsolo's mother embroidered to earn money, while Amorsolo helped by selling water color postcards to a local bookstore for ten centavos each. Amorsolo's brother, Pablo Amorsolo, was also a painter. Amorsolo's first success as a young painter came in 1908, when his painting Leyendo el periódico took second place at the Bazar Escolta, a contest organized by the Asociacion Internacional de Artistas. Between 1909 and 1914, Amorsolo enrolled at the Art School of the Liceo de Manila, where he earned honors for his paintings and drawings.

After graduating from the Liceo, he entered the University of the Philippines' School of Fine Arts, where De la Rosa worked at the time. During college, Fernando Amorsolo's primary influences were the Spanish people court painter Diego Velázquez, John Singer Sargent, Anders Zorn, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, but mostly his contemporary Spanish masters Joaquín Sorolla Bastida and Ignacio Zuloaga. Amorsolo's most notable work as a student at the Liceo was his painting of a young man and a young woman in a garden, which won him the first prize in the art school exhibition during his graduation year.To make money during school, Amorsolo joined competitions and did illustrations for various Philippine publications, including Severino Reyes’ first novel in Tagalog language, Parusa ng Diyos ("Punishment of God"), Iñigo Ed. Regalado's Madaling Araw ("Dawn"), as well as illustrations for editions of the Pasion. Amorsolo graduated with medals from the University of the Philippines in 1914.

After graduating from the University of the Philippines, Amorsolo worked as a draftsman for the Bureau of Public Works, as a chief artist at the Pacific Commercial Company, and as a part-time instructor at the University of the Philippines (where he would work for 38 years). After three years as an instructor and commercial artist, Amorsolo was given a grant to study at the Academia de San Fernando in Madrid, Spain by Filipino businessman Enrique Zobel de Ayala. During his seven months in Spain, Amorsolo sketched at museums and along the streets of Madrid, experimenting with the use of light and color.Through De Ayala's grant, Amorsolo was also able to visit New York City, where he encountered postwar impressionism and cubism, which would be major influences on his work.

Fruit Pickers Harvesting Under The Mango Tree, 1939. Oil on canvas. Amorsolo demonstrating his use of “Chiaroscuro”, an Italian term describing contrast between light and dark, to achieve a sense of three-dimensionality, especially in regards to the human figure.

Amorsolo set up his own studio upon his return to Manila and painted prodigiously during the 1920s and the 1930s. His "Rice Planting" (1922), which appeared on posters and tourist brochures, became one of the most popular images of the Commonwealth of the Philippines. Beginning in the 1930s, Amorsolo's work was exhibited widely both in the Philippines and abroad. His bright,optimistic, pastoral images set the tone for Philippine painting before World War II . Except for his darker World War II-era paintings, Amorsolo painted quiet and peaceful scenes throughout his career.

Amorsolo was sought after by influential Filipinos including Luis Araneta, Antonio Araneta and Jorge B. Vargas. Amorsolo also became the favourite Philippine artist of United States officials and visitors to the country. Due to his popularity, Amorsolo had to resort to photographing his works and pasted and mounted them in an album. Prospective patrons could then choose from this catalogue of his works. Amorsolo did not create exact replicas of his trademark themes; he recreated the paintings by varying some elements.

His works later appeared on the cover and pages of children textbooks, in novels, in commercial designs, in cartoons and illustrations for the Philippine publications such The Independent, Philippine Magazine, Telembang, El Renacimiento Filipino, and Excelsior. He was the director of the University of the Philippine's College of Fine Arts from 1938 to 1952.

During the 1950s until his death in 1972, Amorsolo averaged to finishing 10 paintings a month. However, during his later years, diabetes, cataracts, arthritis, headaches, dizziness and the death of two sons affected the execution of his works. Amorsolo underwent a cataract operation when he was 70 years old, a surgery that did not impede him from drawing and painting. Two months after being confined at the St. Luke's Hospital in Manila, Amorsolo died of heart failure at the age of 79 on April 24, 1972 .

Four days after his death, Amorsolo was honoured as the first National Artist in Painting at the Cultural Center of the Philippines by then President Ferdinand Marcos.

Amorsolo was a close friend of the Philippine sculptor Guillermo Tolentino, the creator of the Caloocan City monument to the patriot Andres Bonifacio.

Marriage and Issue[link]

During his lifetime, Amorsolo was married twice and had 14 children. In 1916, he married Salud Jorge, with whom he had six children. After Jorge's death in 1931, Amorsolo married Maria del Carmen Zaragoza, with whom he had eight children. Among her daughters are Sylvia Amorsolo Lazo and Luz Amorsolo. Five of Amorsolo's children became painters themselves.

Style and techniques[link]

Fruit Gatherer, 1950. Oil on artist's board. A specimen of Amorsolo's conception of an ideal Filipina beauty. It also depicts his mastery of realism, impressionism and the use of “Chiaroscuro”.

Women and landscapes[link]

Amorsolo is best known for his illuminated landscapes,^[4] which often portrayed traditional Filipino customs, culture, fiestas and occupations. His pastoral works presented "an imagined sense of nationhood in counterpoint to American colonial rule" and were important to the formation of Filipino national identity.^[1] He was educated in the classical tradition and aimed "to achieve his Philippine version of the Greek ideal for the human form."^[5] In his paintings of Filipina women, Amorsolo rejected Western ideals of beauty in favor of Filipino ideals^[6] and was fond of basing the faces of his subjects on members of his family.^[7]

"[The women I paint should have] a rounded face, not of the oval type often presented to us in newspapers and magazine illustrations. The eyes should be exceptionally lively, not the dreamy, sleepy type that characterizes the Mongolian. The nose should be of the blunt form but firm and strongly marked. ... So the ideal Filipina beauty should not necessarily be white complexioned, nor of the dark brown color of the typical Malayan, but of the clear skin or fresh colored type which we often witness when we met a blushing girl."

—Fernando Amorsolo^[6]

Amorsolo used natural light in his paintings and developed the backlighting technique Chiaroscuro, which became his artistic trademark and his greatest contribution to Philippine painting.^[2][3][8] In a typical Amorsolo painting, figures are outlined against a characteristic glow, and intense light on one part of the canvas highlights nearby details.^[3] Philippine sunlight was a constant feature of Amorsolo's work; he is believed to have painted only one rainy-day scene.^[3]

Sketches[link]

Amorsolo was an incessant sketch artist,^[6] often drawing sketches at his home, at Luneta Park, and in the countryside.^[7] He drew the people he saw around him, from farmers to city-dwellers coping with the Japanese occupation.^[6] Amorsolo's impressionistic tendencies, which may be seen in his paintings as well, were at their height in his sketches.^[6] His figures were not completely finished but were mere "suggestions" of the image.^[6]

Historical paintings and portraits[link]

Amorsolo also painted a series of historical paintings on pre-Colonial and Spanish Colonization events. Amorsolo's Making of the Philippine Flag, in particular, was widely reproduced.^[9] His The First Baptism in the Philippines required numerous detailed sketches and colored studies of its elements.^[9] These diverse elements were meticulously and carefully set by the artist before being transferred to the final canvas.^[9] For his pre-colonial and 16th-century depiction of the Philippines, Amorsolo referred to the written accounts of Antonio Pigafetta, other available reading materials, and visual sources.^[9] He consulted with the Philippine scholars of the time, H. Pardo de Tavera and Epifanio de los Santos.^[9]

Amorsolo also painted oil portraits of Presidents like General Emilio Aguinaldo, and other prominent individuals such as Don Alfredo Jacób and Doña Pura Garchitorena Toral of Camarines Sur. He also painted the wedding picture of Don Mariano Garchitorena and Doña Caridad Pamintuan of Pampanga.

He also did a portrait of American Senator Warren Grant Magnuson (1905–1989), of the Democratic Party from Washington, whom the Warren G. Magnuson Health Sciences Building at the University of Washington, and the Warren G. Magnuson Clinical Center at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland are named after.