.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
"Without struggle there is no freedom. Without freedom there is no light."
- El?as, from Noli Me Tangere
Fernando Amorsolo, master of the romantic landscape genre, painted this present work based on the important political treatise, Noli Me Tangere by Filipino reformer Jos? Rizal. First published in 1887 and written in Spanish, Noli Me Tangere employs fictional narrative to describe the failures of colonial rule.
The plot revolves around Juan Cris?stomo Ibarra, a mixed-race heir of a wealthy clan. Upon returning home from a liberated Europe, he is confronted by an abusive and deeply flawed Spanish civil administration. Over the course of the novel, Ibarra strives for reform through a series of debates with Elias, a mysterious figure who presents an opposing viewpoint to Ibarra and acts as the voice of the working class, in comparison to the privileged Ibarra.
Amorsolo depicts a crucial scene in the story where El?as rescues Ibarra from the Spanish authorities and hides him in a "banka" on Pasig River, after breaking him out from prison. After a final visit to Ibarra's love, Maria Clara, who is being forced into marriage with another man, the pair flee downriver to escape their enemies.
Originally banned during Rizal's lifetime, Noli Me Tangere is now an important compulsory text for the study of politics and literature within the Philippines.
This 1961 artwork is particularly rare as there are only three known versions by Amorsolo based on this theme, all dated to approximately the same period.
- El?as, from Noli Me Tangere
Fernando Amorsolo, master of the romantic landscape genre, painted this present work based on the important political treatise, Noli Me Tangere by Filipino reformer Jos? Rizal. First published in 1887 and written in Spanish, Noli Me Tangere employs fictional narrative to describe the failures of colonial rule.
The plot revolves around Juan Cris?stomo Ibarra, a mixed-race heir of a wealthy clan. Upon returning home from a liberated Europe, he is confronted by an abusive and deeply flawed Spanish civil administration. Over the course of the novel, Ibarra strives for reform through a series of debates with Elias, a mysterious figure who presents an opposing viewpoint to Ibarra and acts as the voice of the working class, in comparison to the privileged Ibarra.
Amorsolo depicts a crucial scene in the story where El?as rescues Ibarra from the Spanish authorities and hides him in a "banka" on Pasig River, after breaking him out from prison. After a final visit to Ibarra's love, Maria Clara, who is being forced into marriage with another man, the pair flee downriver to escape their enemies.
Originally banned during Rizal's lifetime, Noli Me Tangere is now an important compulsory text for the study of politics and literature within the Philippines.
This 1961 artwork is particularly rare as there are only three known versions by Amorsolo based on this theme, all dated to approximately the same period.