Tag: legazpi
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Jan van der Straet’s (Stradanus) Conquest of the Philippine Islands (ca. 1590s)
Jan van der Straet’s (Stradanus) Conquest of the Philippine Islands (ca. 1590s) is among the earliest European images of the archipelago. The surviving work is a preparatory drawing (modello) for a monochrome (grisaille) painting executed by his son Scipione Stradano for the funeral ceremonies of Philip II of Spain at the Basilica of San Lorenzo…
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Sikatuna as viewer’s surrogate in Luna’s Pacto de Sangre
I reread Filomeno Aguilar’s essay on the pacto de sangre, and it reminded me how often Luna’s painting is still described as a straightforward image of uneven relations between Spaniards and indigenous leaders. Even the encyclopedia article by Santiago Pilar echoes this. That reading treats the canvas as if it were meant to function like…