This portrait, titled La Perla de Lucban (The Pearl of Lucban), is characteristic of the foto-óleo technique, where paint is applied directly onto a black-and-white photograph to bring depth and color to the subject. Created in 1891 by the Filipino artist Fabian de la Rosa, this piece captures Maria Isabel Nepomuceno de Ordoveza, who had passed away three years prior to the painting’s creation. The portrait was a gift from de la Rosa to her husband, Juan Ordoveza, a close friend and father figure to the young artist.

De la Rosa’s foto-óleo process lends warmth and life to the image, capturing Maria Isabel’s dignified expression. Her gaze, steady and contemplative, evokes a sense of vivid dimensionality which almost foils the posthumous nature of the work. The delicate detailing in her attire—particularly the embroidered floral patterns on her blouse—demonstrates the artist’s skill in merging photographic realism with painterly embellishments. The rose in her hair and her jewelry, especially the pendant on the choker, are delicately traced with a brush.

By the early 19th century, affection had become a key family value, contributing to the popularity of foto-óleos. Rare and intimate, these portraits were often displayed in living rooms, elevating photography to the emotional resonance traditionally associated with oil painting. Frequently commissioned as gifts, foto-óleos embodied both status and sentiment, with each portrait serving as a vessel for personal and familial connections.

Initially, foto-óleos in the Philippines conveyed sentiments of courtship and marriage but were also commissioned as remembrances for the deceased. The high cost of prestigious foto-óleos, crafted by artists like de la Rosa or Ramon Peralta, rivaled that of bust-size oil portraits, lending these works a dynastic significance. While bourgeois marriages were companionate, they also represented political, social, and economic alliances between influential families. By the early 20th century, these portraits expanded beyond marital bonds to include broader networks of kin and friends, reflecting the growing emphasis on the nuclear family as basis of society, an increasingly sentimental culture, and the rising accessibility of portraiture. By the 1900s, a celebrated artist like de la Rosa could command substantial prices for a likeness from a Manila patron.

This portrait is significant not only as one of de la Rosa’s earliest surviving works but also as a testament to the emotional depth he achieved in capturing the memory of a loved one. De la Rosa, who was only 22 years old when he made the work, demonstrated his early mastery in portraiture. The realist style he nurtured as a young painter would later build his career and influence his nephew, Fernando Amorsolo, who is regarded as the artist who defined Philippine painting for most of the 20th century.

The choice of foto-óleo as a medium reflects a period in Philippine art history when artists experimented with new techniques before the advent of color photography. This blending of photography and painting aligns with the Filipino cultural practice of larawan, or memorial portraiture, a tradition of commemorating individuals through visual art. As de la Rosa’s earliest known work, La Perla de Lucban bridges late 19th-century painted portraiture and the emerging art form of photography. This intimate family tribute also embodies modernizing values, reifying emotions evoked by the photographic image through the artist’s skilled act of tracing and colorizing.