Treasured Rizal execution photo finds home in Cavite
On June 19, the country marks the 164th birth anniversary of national hero José Rizal, physician, writer, and propagandist.
In 1896, 129 years ago, he was executed at Bagumbayan (today’s Rizal Park or Luneta) for conspiracy, rebellion, and sedition against Spanish authorities.
A photograph of that execution was published in various forms in many publications on Philippine history.
However, for a long time, nothing was known about the existence of an original image until it was bought in the United States 40 years ago.
The year was 1985, and John Silva, now executive director of the Ortigas Foundation Library, chanced upon the picture inside a box of photographs at an antique shop in the State of Pennsylvania.
Silva had no doubt that the image was authentic as it is of albumen paper, the material used in photo processing during those times.
In a Facebook post in 2022, Silva said that “having handled and reviewed thousands of 19th-century images for my research, I could feel its authenticity.”
He noted that it had a description at the back: “Execution of a doctor by the Spaniards.”
Authentic
Silva brought the image to the Philippines, and it was acquired by philanthropist-businessman Geronimo Berenguer de los Reyes Jr. (GBR), who set up the GBR Museum inside the business park he built in General Trias, Cavite. Silva served as the first executive director of the said museum.
In a recent interview with historian Jose Victor Torres of the De La Salle University-Manila, he told Lifestyle that the image is indeed authentic, in response to assertions by other scholars that it is fake.
The image was taken by Spanish-born photographer Manuel Arias Rodriguez, one of many official photographers during the execution.
It shows the standing, tied-up Rizal facing west, with Spanish soldiers aiming their guns at him in preparation for the execution.
There are also hundreds of other soldiers and onlookers, and surprisingly, a dog amid the group of executors.
The walls and some buildings of Intramuros are visible in the background.
Torres notes that this image is most likely the reference of the illustration of the execution published in the Feb. 13, 1897 issue of the London-based The Graphic magazine.
The picture was a zoomed-in image of Rodriguez’s photograph. However, edits were made, such as the removal of lamp posts seen in the original photograph.
This 1897 illustration was a lithograph created by Englishman Charles Staniland (1838-1916). It had the title “The Rising in the Philippine Islands: The Execution of Dr. Rizal, an Alleged Revolutionary Leader.”
