A maiden in time: Hidalgo’s mythic, jaw-dropping portrait
Golden Aphrodite who stirs with love all creation,” writes Edith Hamilton in “Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes.” That same stirring presence appears in Félix Resurrección Hidalgo’s “Untitled (Venus and the Swan),” painted in the 1880s, which is set to go under the hammer on Sept. 13 at Leon Gallery’s Magnificent September Auction.
Known to the Greeks as Aphrodite and Venus to the Romans, Hidalgo’s goddess makes you catch your breath. Towering at over two meters tall, she is fully nude, hair cascading past her waist, with a swan at her feet. She stands with a seductive, almost supercilious sidelong gaze, set against a calm seascape. It’s hard not to look away from this daring vision of the goddess of love—, one that doesn’t simply pose, but commands.
The elements of “Venus and the Swan”
In his monumental canvas, Hidalgo paints his subject in a stance that recalls the contrapposto of ancient statuary, the same posture that still flatters beauty queens and supermodels today. Both dynamic and graceful, the gesture of lifting her hair reinforces her self-awareness as an object of admiration, a trope familiar in the visual vocabulary of the goddess.
At her feet, a swan lies almost stunned—not rendered as the predatory Zeus disguised as a swan like in the myth of Leda. Instead, it is a humbled bird, seemingly struck by the goddess’ beauty. Within classical iconography, the swan was often associated with Venus, signifying love and the power of beauty.
Hidalgo further enriches the scene with symbolic detail. He paints the spiny murex shell, native to both the Philippines and the Mediterranean. To her side is a towering arrangement of flowers, seeming to suggest both beauty and fecundity.
More than myth
Why paint Venus at all? In the strict hierarchy of the European Salon, mythological and historical subjects reigned supreme, outshining portraits, landscapes, or still lifes. They demanded not just technical skill but also an education that separated artists from artisans.
During Hidalgo’s time in the late 19th century, “Historical works required a classical education and a level of erudition in Greek and Roman mythology and literature as well as European history,” Lisa Guerrero Nakpil writes. “The ordinary artisan would be unable to conceptualize such works, which were entered into Salons or competitions that were fiercely fought. The results could make or break careers.”
Hidalgo, ever the intellectual, rose to the challenge. For centuries, the image of Venus has inspired the realm of art.
His format brings to mind the Parian marble statue of Venus de Milo, one of the most famous sculptures of ancient Greece, now in the Louvre in Paris. Chiseled during the Hellenistic period, the figure is missing both arms; it is impressive in detail, from the details on her head to the intact drapes of fabric on her waist.
It also brings to mind Botticelli’s “The Birth of Venus” in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, as Venus stands demurely yet suggestively on an open shell, close to nature and flanked by angels.
Hidalgo at his peak
Hidalgo had already traveled from Manila to Madrid, Rome, and Paris by the time he painted this work in the 1880s. He soaked in the Prado’s vast collection, which was so overwhelming, he once wrote, that it gave him a headache. All this while also training in the most rigorous academies of Europe.
It was in Paris, however, where he hit his stride. In 1884, at Madrid’s Exposición General de Bellas Artes, Hidalgo won silver for “Las Virgenes Cristianas Expuestas al Populacho,” the very same year Juan Luna’s “Spoliarium” took gold. It was the height of what Nakpil calls his most productive years, from 1884 to 1896, when he fearlessly embraced the monumental canvas.
A collector’s jewel
For decades, “Untitled (Venus and the Swan)” belonged to the late Dr. Eleuterio “Teyet” Pascual, a scholarly collector whose homes overflowed with treasures. As Dr. Jaime Laya recalls, Pascual “did everything in style—the way he lived, entertained, collected.” Paintings covered walls and ceilings, santos mingled with couture and chandeliers, and icons of Philippine art filled every room. In that constellation of masterpieces, Hidalgo’s Venus shone bright.
Now emerging on the market, it is the largest Hidalgo mythological work from private hands, with an expected starting price of P18 million at León Gallery’s Magnificent September Auction 2025.
To see this Venus in person is to be reminded of the scale of ambition our Filipino artists carried in the 19th century—that they were erudite in matters of literature and history, with an excellence in technique that allowed them to paint with sophisticated aesthetic sensibilities and emotional sensitivity, all the while daring to reimagine myth on canvases the size of walls.
As the gavel falls, Hidalgo’s “Untitled (Venus and the Swan)” shows a Filipino master’s maiden in time, bridging centuries from ancient Rome to our contemporary present, while still able to take our breath away.
León Gallery’s Magnificent September Auction 2025 starts at 2 p.m. on Sept. 13, 2025 at G/F Eurovilla 1, Rufino corner Legazpi St., Legazpi Village, Makati City
