Double trouble: A Luna walking tour

Last weekend, the GSIS Museum went on its annual Luna Walk to commemorate the sites connected with the painter Juan Luna around his birth anniversary (Oct. 25, 1857). As GSIS is the proud owner of Luna’s Parisian Life, currently on loan to the National Museum, I presume they visited the actual painting before proceeding to the Bahay Nakpil-Bautista house in Quiapo, where it originally hung in a sala. If I were to design a Luna walking tour for next year, I would kill two proverbial birds with one stone by including the painter’s brother, Antonio Luna, who was born on Oct. 29, 1866.

I would meet my tour group in front of the Juan Luna Monument on the island at the intersection of P. Burgos, Palacio, and General Luna streets in Intramuros. While waiting to assemble, the group will be directed to read the historical markers installed at the base—one in English, the other in Filipino—so I can dig into my bag of Luna stories without giving a tedious biographical and chronological summary. The English marker reads:

“Juan Luna y Novicio (1857-1899). Painter, Patriot, and Diplomat. Born on October 24, 1857 [the National Historical Commission recently corrected this to 25 October] in Badoc, Ilocos Norte. Studied in Ateneo Municipal de Manila, Escuela de Bellas Artes [sometimes the Escuela Superior de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado], Escuela Náutica, Manila, and Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid. [No mention of his continuing education and affiliation with the Spanish Academy in Rome]. Painted in Rome the famous ‘The Death of Cleopatra’ (1881), ‘Spoliarium’ (1884), ‘The Battle of Lepanto,’ ‘The Blood Compact,’ ‘People and Kings,’ and others. Associate of José Rizal, Graciano López Jaena, and Marcelo H. del Pilar in the Propaganda Movement. Diplomatic agent of Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo, Paris 1898. Died in Hong Kong on December 7, 1899.”

The marker concludes with useless legalese from the martial law days:

“By virtue of Presidential Decree No. 260, 1 August 1973 as amended by Presidential Decree No. 375, 14 January 1974 and No. 1505, 11 June 1978, this is declared a National Historical Monument.”

Before moving to the nearby National Museum to view Luna’s actual works, I will mention that the street running from the monument all the way down to the Manila Cathedral is named in honor of the painter’s younger brother, Gen. Antonio Luna. In Spanish times, it was known as Calle Real de Palacio or Calle del Palacio Real because the street ended at the government center: the Governor-General’s Palace, the Manila Cathedral, and the Ayuntamiento.

After the National Museum, I would proceed to 457 Urbiztondo Street in San Nicolas, Binondo, to see the old house where Antonio Luna was born. Both heroes were of Ilocano ancestry; Juan was born in Ilocos Norte, while Antonio was born in San Nicolas, which explains his pen name Taga-ilog, referring to his birthplace near the Pasig River. Taga-ilog, after all, is commonly believed to be the origin of the word “Tagalog.” Naturally, the historical marker here is in Filipino. Translated from the original, it reads:

“Birthplace of General Antonio Luna (1866-1899). In this house, 843 Urbiztondo, Antonio Luna was born on 29 October 1866 to Joaquín Luna de San Pedro and Laureana Novicio, and brother of the painter Juan Luna. Pharmacist and chemist. Famous writer in La Solidaridad, a Filipino reformist newspaper in Madrid. Suspected of Katipunan membership by the Spaniards, he was deported to Madrid in 1897. When he returned to the Philippines in 1898, he was appointed Assistant Secretary of War, and later Commander of the Army of the Republic of the Philippines in February 1899. Killed in Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija, 5 June 1899.”

It is a pity that the emphasis was placed on Antonio’s military career rather than his scientific, literary, and musical achievements. He obtained his licentiate in pharmacy in Barcelona, earned his doctorate from the Universidad Central de Madrid, and trained at the Institut Pasteur in Paris. He served as municipal chemist in Manila before the outbreak of the Philippine Revolution. Luna conducted landmark studies on malaria and influenza, the purity of carabao milk, the potability of water from the Pasig, and even the therapeutic properties of thermal springs in Sibul. He published ”Impresiones” (Madrid, 1891), a compilation of his La Solidaridad essays, and was reputedly one of the finest guitarists and swordsmen of his generation.

See Also

We are all invited!

Our last stop will be the Bahay Nakpil-Bautista, which not only housed Parisian Life, but was also the home of Julio Nakpil (composer of the Katipunan) and his wife Gregoria de Jesús (widow of Andrés Bonifacio). I must say that Teodoro Agoncillo’s advice to visit historic sites has served me well over the 40 years I have been doing history. He was right: these places retain traces of the past even after being altered or built over with modern structures.

The fiery Luna brothers are remembered for their grand deeds, but what if Juan Luna had remained a mariner, and Antonio Luna a chemist? Their life choices altered the course of our history.

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