Question

Let's Be Artistic! Say something about this ""Spoliarium"" painting by looking at the text only. Write a four-paragraph composition by describing the painting and be guided with the following questions: What have you noticed in the picture? What are the positions of characters in the picture? What feelings or emotions does the picture convey? How do different positions of characters affect the mood in the picture? What mood does the painting depict?​

Answer 1

The Spoliarium (often misspelled Spolarium) is a painting by Filipino painter Juan Luna. Luna, working on canvas, spent eight months completing the painting which depicts dying gladiators. The painting was submitted by Luna to the Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes in 1884 in Madrid, where it garnered the first gold medal (out of three).[1] The picture recreates a despoiling scene in a Roman circus where dead gladiators are stripped of weapons and garments. Together with other works of the Spanish Academy, the Spoliarium was on exhibit in Rome in April 1884.[2]

Spoliarium

Spoliarium of Juan Luna displayed at Philippine National Museum of Fine Arts.jpg

Spoliarium displayed at the Philippine National Museum of Fine Arts.

Artist

Juan Luna

Year

1884

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

4.22 m × 7.675 m (13.8 ft × 25.18 ft)

Location

National Museum of Fine Arts, Manila

Spoliarium as displayed in the National Museum of the Philippines.

In 1886, the painting was sold to the Diputación Provincial de Barcelona for 20,000 pesetas. It currently hangs in the main gallery at the first floor of the National Museum of Fine Arts in Manila, and is the first work of art that greets visitors upon entry into the museum. The National Museum considers it the largest painting in the Philippines with dimensions of 4.22 meters x 7.675 meters.[3]

Filipino historian Ambeth Ocampo writes, "...the fact remains that when Luna and Félix Resurrección Hidalgo won the top awards in the Madrid Exposition of 1884, they proved to the world that indios could, despite their supposed barbarian race, paint better than the Spaniards who colonized them."[4]