The Spoliarium is a painting by Filipino

Filipino people

The Filipino people or Filipinos are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the islands of the Philippines. There are about 92 million Filipinos in the Philippines, and about 11 million living outside the Philippines ....

 artist Juan Luna

Juan Luna

Juan Luna y Novicio was an Ilocano Filipino painter, sculptor and a political activist of the Philippine Revolution during the late 19th century...

. The painting was submitted by Luna to the Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes in 1884, where it garnered a gold medal. In 1886, it was sold to the Diputación Provincial de Barcelona for 20,000 pesetas

Spanish peseta

The peseta was the currency of Spain between 1869 and 2002. Along with the French franc, it was also a de facto currency used in Andorra .- Etymology :...

. It currently hangs in the main gallery at the ground floor of the National Museum of the Philippines

National Museum of the Philippines

The Museum of the Filipino People is a department of the National Museum of the Philippines that houses the Anthropology and Archaeology Divisions of the National Museum. It is located in the Agrifina Circle, Rizal Park, Manila adjacent to the main National Museum building...

, and is the first work of art that greets visitors upon entry into the museum.

In popular culture

Ryan Cayabyab

Ryan Cayabyab

Ryan Cayabyab is a Filipino musician and was the Executive and Artistic Director of the defunct San Miguel Foundation for the Performing Arts...

 composed the opera Spoliarium, which chronicles the creation of the eponymous painting and Juan Luna's trial for the murder of his wife. Soprano Fides Cuyugan-Asensio wrote the libretto

Libretto

A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...

. A recorded version was released for commercial distribution in 2006.

Popular Filipino rock band The Eraserheads

The Eraserheads

Eraserheads, or E-Heads was a Filipino rock band of the 90s, formed by Ely Buendia, Raimund Marasigan, Buddy Zabala and Marcus Adoro. The band is one of the most successful, critically acclaimed, and significant bands in the history of OPM...

 had a single entitled Spoliarium in their album Sticker Happy

Sticker Happy

Sticker Happy is the Eraserheads' fifth album, released by Sony BMG Music Philippines Inc. in 1997. At the time, the album cover courted a healthy amount of controversy as to the identity of the nude woman playing an upright piano in the middle of a field .Musically, the album is heavier as the...

, penned by Ely Buendia

Ely Buendía

Eleandre Basiño Buendia, popularly known as Ely Buendia, and also once adopting the stage name, Jesus "Dizzy" Ventura, is a Filipino writer and musician who gained fame as guitarist, songwriter, and lead vocalist in the popular Pinoy rock band The Eraserheads...

. The true meaning of the song's cryptic lyrics, however, is still unclear and debated upon.

See also

• España y Filipinas
  España y Filipinas
  España y Filipinas, meaning “Spain and the Philippines” in translation, is an 1886 oil on wood by Filipino painter, ilustrado, propagandist, and paladin, Juan Luna. It is an allegorical depiction of two women together, one a representation of Spain and the other of the Philippines...
  
  
• Las Damas Romanas
  Las Damas Romanas
  Las Damas Romanas , also known as The Roman Maidens, The Roman Women, or The Roman Ladies, is an oil on canvas painting by Juan Luna, an award-winning Filipino painter, patriot, hero and one of the Philippines' first "international artists" who had been considered as one of the most important...
  
  
• The Death of Cleopatra
  The Death of Cleopatra
  The Death of Cleopatra , also known simply as Cleopatra, is an 1881 painting made by the award-winning Filipino painter and hero Juan Luna. The famous painting was a silver medalist or second prize winner during the 1881 National Exposition of Fine Arts in Madrid...
  
  
• The Blood Compact
  The Blood Compact
  The Blood Compact is an award-winning 1886 “historic and historical” painting by Filipino painter and hero Juan Luna.-Description:...
  
  

External links

• Other paintings by Luna at flickr.com