|
Juan Luna was a 19th century Filipino painter.
Born on October 23, 1857 in Badoc, Ilocos Norte, he was the third child of seven children. He showed artistic promise early on and was encouraged to take painting lessons, being sent to Europe for further training and enrolling at the age of 20 in Madrid at the San Fernando Academy of Arts (Escuela de Bellas Artes de San Fernando) and under the private tutelage of Alejo Vera, a contemporary painter who took Luna to Rome to study the masters.
His most famous piece is The Spolarium which he won top prize at the 1884 Madrid Exposition. Luna later established his studio in Paris.
In 1886, he got married, but later murdered her and his mother-in-law in a fit of jealousy, for which the French court acquitted him of all charges. In 1894, he returned to the Philippines after almost 20 years absence and was arrested two years later under suspicion of sedition. He was later pardoned. His brother, General Antonio Luna, was an active participant in the insurgent Katipunan movement.
In 1898, after the United States defeated Spain in the Spanish-American War, the fledgling Philippine Republic appointed him as a delegate to the Paris convention and to Washington, D.C. to convince them to recognize Philippine sovereignty and independence.
Luna died in Hong Kong of a heart attack on December 7, 1899, upon hearing of his brothers assassination by Katipunan leaders.
| 
