LA BULAQUENA

JUAN LUNA

JENNIFER S. LIM

BSIT-2A

FINAL PROJECT

INTRODUCTION

LA BULAQUENA

JUAN LUNA

La Bulaquena, literally "the woman from Bulacan" or "The Bulacan woman", is the Spanish title by Filipino painter and hero Juan Novico Luna. It is a "serene portrait", of a Filipino woman wearing a Maria Clara gown, a traditional Filipino dress. The woman's clothing in the painting is the reason why the masterpiece is alternately referred to as Maria Clara.

AUTHOR

Juan Luna born in 1857 in Badoc, Ilocos Norte. He is a Filipino painter, sculptor and a polotical activist of the Philippine Revolution during the late 19th century. He became one of the first recognized Philippine artists.

Regarded for work done in the manner of European academies of his time, Luna painted literary and historical scenes, some with an underscore of political commentary. His allegorical works were inspired with classical balance, and often showed figures in theatrical poses.

Juan Luna Y Novicio

HISTORY

Filipino art experts, historians, and researchers have four recommendations on the identity of the woman depicted in Luna's La Bulaquena despite the absence of photographs. According to E.A. Cruz, a columnist for the Philippine Daily Globe newspaper, the woman in the portrait could be one of the women courted by Luna after losing his wife Maria de la Paz Pardo de Tavera. Luna killed his wife and mother-in-law because of jealousy.

“Bulaqueña” was brought to the National Museum for conservation some years ago and was never returned to the Palace by the Pasig, where she would have been inaccessible to the public. Today, she shares a prominent wall in the Luna gallery with a large portrait of the strong-willed Ilocana, Laureana Novicio, the artist’s mother, and a portrait previously misidentified as Paz Pardo de Tavera, the painter’s ill-fated wife, shot in the head by her angry and jealous husband.