{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":57438,"auction_id":116,"set_id":150,"lot_number":"10","artist":"Fernando Amorsolo (1892 - 1972)","title":"Malate Church with the Statue of Isabela II ","starting_price":3800000,"signed_dated":"signed and dated 1968 (lower right)","medium":"oil on canvas","size":"21\" x 26\" (54 cm x 66 cm)","property":null,"coa":null,"provenance":"From the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. John Curtis of Warner Barnes & Co, Manila and given as a wedding present to the daughter of a family \nfriend and its present owner.","exhibited":null,"literature":null,"write_up":"Fernando Amorosolo’s countryside landscapes always burst with raw energy — the farmers and their wives working in the field, the wonders of natural beauty in the mountains and groves, and of course, his command of that special glowing sunlight that colors the Philippine skies and the land beneath it.<br><br>\n\nBy contrast, his scenes of townships and churches have a quiet wistfulness, a window into a now-bygone but happy past.<br><br>\n\nSuch is the case of this painting of Malate Church, with the statue of the forgotten Spanish Queen Isabella II (or more properly, María Isabel Luisa de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias, 1830-1904) on its front lawn. The monument was erected outside the church in 1896, survived the shelling and bombs of World War II, but was blown down by a supertyphoon in 1970. Queen Isabella II had her own share of controversies, palace intrigue, even rebellion and removal.<br><br>\n\nThe more intriguing and poignant story, however, is the tale of a friendship that survived not only the destruction and slaughter of World War II but also two notorious internment camps for foreigners run by the Japanese military in the University of Sto. Tomas and the University of the Philippines Agricultural College in Los Baños.<br><br>\n\nMalate Church was the parish church of that elegant little suburb next to Ermita, both a favorite address for diplomats, commonwealth officials, and ex-pats who ran the American businesses that dominated the Philippines.<br><br>\n\nJohn Curtis was managing director of the trading firm Warner, Barnes & Co. a company that had come to Manila in the 1890s as part of the first wave of American commercial houses bringing Manila hemp and indigo to the United States’ eastern seaboard.<br><br>\n\nHe and John d’Authreau would be caught up in the web of conflict — and imprisoned, at the start of World War II first at UST, which housed almost 4,000 Americans and various European nationals. As the War dragged on, thousands of the prisoners were sent to Los Baños which was in the grip of a particularly sadistic camp commander and his second in command, Sadaaki Konishi.<br><br>\n\nKonishi subjected the prisoners to both starvation and hard labor and, after Liberation in February 1945, would later be condemned as a war criminal and sentenced to death.<br><br>\n\nIt was in this horrific atmosphere that the two families forged a deep friendship amid the suffering in these two camps.<br><br>\n\nMrs. John Curtis would bring the painting to the d’Authreau’s daughter in London as a poignant wedding gift in April 1979.<br><br>\n\nToday, the work at hand is a memento of a Manila long gone, but of a friendship that has withstood the test of time.","lot_group":"PAINTING","lot_details_html":null,"alias":null,"hp":4800000,"bp":0.2016,"isWithdrawn":0,"accounting_hp":4800000,"userBid":null,"isPaid":0,"userId":22,"lot_status":"SOLD","isDone":1,"bid_history_id":null,"reserve_price":4000000,"hammer_price":5767680,"fav":0},"image":[{"id":61921,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/116/150/lot/10.jpg","isFeatured":1}]},"increment":[2200000,2400000,2600000,2800000,3000000,3200000,3400000,3600000,3800000,4000000,4200000,4400000,4600000,4800000,5000000,5500000,6000000,6500000,7000000,7500000,8000000,8500000,9000000,9500000,10000000,11000000,12000000,13000000,14000000,15000000,16000000,17000000,18000000,19000000,20000000],"prev":9,"next":11,"count_bid":0,"bid_history":[],"tokenExpired":1}