{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":1851,"auction_id":4,"set_id":5,"lot_number":"125","artist":"Fernando Amorsolo (1892 - 1972)","title":"Manila Cathedral in Ruins","starting_price":1800000,"signed_dated":"signed, inscribed 'Manila Cathedral'<br /> and dated April 18, 1945 (lower left)","medium":"oil on canvas","size":"12 1/2\" x 15 1/2\" (32 cm x 39 cm)","property":null,"coa":"Accompanied by a certificate issued by National Museum confirming the authenticity of this lot<br /> León Gallery wishes to thank Mrs. Sylvia Amorsolo-Lazo  for confirming the authenticity of this lot.","provenance":"Private Collection, Manila","exhibited":null,"literature":null,"write_up":"Beyond charming images of the pastoral, Fernando \nAmorsolo went through a phase in his prolific \ncareer in which he painted harrowing scenes of \nrampage and bloodshed borne from the violence of the \nSecond World War. <br /><br />\nAlthough the war temporarily halted the full-fledged \nartistic pursuits of Amorsolo, he still painted pictures \nof prosperity and idyllic vistas of the countryside in \naccordance with the Japanese propaganda enshrined \nin its concept of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity \nSphere, which forced countries under its belt of \ninfluence to kowtow to Japanese imperialism. This \nAmorsolo had forcibly done to survive amid a full-blown \nsocio-economic distress. <br /><br />\nA footnote in this bitter phase of Amorsolo’s career is a \nstory of a man profoundly conscious of the anxiety and \ndistress of his fellow Filipinos. Alfredo Roces writes in his \nbook on the artist: “Amorsolo painted his pictures of the \nwar with no interest in pleasing his customers. He did \nmany oils right on the spot as the emotion moved him. \nHe must have reacted to the need to record the chaos \naround him.” Amorsolo’s daughter, Sylvia, also notes that \n“in the face of fear and hunger during World War II, he \nkept himself drawing and painting the day-to-day events…\nHe kept himself busy drawing and painting the atrocities \nof war, like a newspaper informing everyone of the sad \nand cruel events inflicted on our people and places.”<br /><br />\nAmorsolo depicts in this poignant piece the war-torn \nruins of the seventh incarnation of the Manila Cathedral, \nwhich existed from 1879 to 1945. Now formally known \nas the Minor Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, \nthe Manila Cathedral is the seat of the Archdiocese of \nManila and the “Mother of all Churches, Cathedrals, and \nBasilicas in the Philippines.” First established in 1571 as \nthe parish “Church of Manila” and formally declared as a \ncathedral in 1581, the Manila Cathedral had undergone \nsix iterations before 1879, with the first structure gutted \nby fire in 1583 and the succeeding ones razed to the \nground by earthquakes.<br /><br />\nThe seventh incarnation of the Manila Cathedral, the \nRomanesque-Byzantine masterpiece of Architect Don \nVicente Serrano y Salaverri, was among the casualties of \nthe bloody battle for the liberation of Manila. Hundreds \nof civilians were captured, held hostage, and helplessly \nmassacred by Japanese forces inside the Cathedral. \nMerciless artillery shelling from the Americans to quash \nthe remaining Japanese troops left the monumental \nchurch in helpless ruins. Moreover, Intramuros, the \nmighty domain of the Manila Cathedral, was virtually \nwiped out during the battle, with only the San Agustin \nChurch surviving the rampage.<br /><br />\nAmorsolo finished painting this work on April 18, 1945; \nmore than a month had passed since Manila was \nliberated. Manila Cathedral is a harrowing image of \ndestruction that even the Divine, in his powerful abode, \ncould not prevent through His omnipotent hands. It is a \npoignant reminder of a broader tragedy—the destruction \nof Manila, the Pearl of the Orient. Not only were cultural \ntreasures indispensable to our fascinating past lost and \nvanished into the sands of time but also our strong sense \nof community and integration into the city. It is something \nthat sadly continues to exist today: the continued neglect \nof history and heritage and the lamentable loss of our \nconnectedness and belongingness to the city, which has \nalready become dull, intolerable, and unlivable due to the \nheinous neglect of sustainable and people-centric urban \nplanning. (Adrian Maranan)","lot_group":"PAINTING","lot_details_html":null,"alias":null,"hp":2000000,"bp":0.2016,"isWithdrawn":0,"accounting_hp":2000000,"userBid":5926,"isPaid":0,"userId":22,"lot_status":"SOLD","isDone":1,"bid_history_id":null,"reserve_price":null,"hammer_price":2403200,"fav":0},"image":[{"id":1862,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/4/5/lot/125.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":124,"next":126,"count_bid":0,"bid_history":[],"tokenExpired":1}