{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":1794,"auction_id":4,"set_id":5,"lot_number":"75","artist":"Betsy Westendorp (1927 - 2022)","title":"Portrait of Isabel with Ian","starting_price":1400000,"signed_dated":"signed and dated 2007 (lower right)","medium":"oil on canvas","size":"38\" x 50 1/2\" (97 cm x 128 cm)","property":null,"coa":null,"provenance":"Acquired directly from the artist","exhibited":null,"literature":"Reyes, Cid and Elena Flórez. Betsy Westendorp (Volume I).\nManila: De La Salle University Publishing House, 2017.\nFull-color photograph on page 29.","write_up":"Betsy Westendorp’s Portrait of Isabel with Ian is a \nriveting portrait of the human spirit’s resilience \namid grief and loss. It depicts Isabel, Westendorp’s \neldest daughter, and her son Ian in his younger years. \nIsabel holds her son in a loving embrace; Ian’s face \nradiates such a charming spirit and an innocent smile \nthat only a child can flaunt in sheer virtue.<br /><br /> \nAt first glance, one immediately notices the subject of \nunconditional maternal love. However, Westendorp \npainted this piece due to the tragic death of Ian in 2006 \nat the young age of 26 due to sepsis meningococcal. \nAccording to the US Centers for Disease Control and \nPrevention, this condition is caused by bacteria entering \nand multiplying in the bloodstream, damaging the walls \nof the blood vessels and causing bleeding into the skin \nand organs. Westendorp was shattered by the sudden \npassing of her only grandson, and to cope with the \nunforgiving pain of losing a loved one, she painted several \nversions of the work at hand, all endowed with an equally \npoignant and moving character. <br /><br /><br />\n*A postscript to this story would be the death of Isabel ten years \nafter Ian’s passing. She died in Madrid due to heart failure; she \nnever recovered from the relentless gush of agonizing pain brought \nby the death of her only son. In medical terms, this is called \n“takotsubo cardiomyopathy.” Westendorp could not attend her \ndaughter’s burial, and so she channeled her immense grief into \na massive “atmosferografia” titled “Passages,” which symbolized \nIsabel’s “passage” into the afterlife. The work is now in the \ncollection of the Instituto Cervantes de Manila.*<br /><br />\nA monumental mural depicting Westendorp’s favorite \nfloral subjects serves as the dramatic background of this \npiece. In the mural’s lower center portion are delicate \nlotus flowers, symbolizing resilience—the power to \novercome all adversities—and eventual rebirth. Flowers \nare Westendorp’s favorite subjects, and so they weep \nin lasting lament with the artist, guiding her towards a \nregained strength of character. This is the compelling \npower of art to nourish humanity’s despondent soul. <br /><br />\nWestendorp’s flowers, with their inherent melancholic \nbeauty, are in eternal bloom, and so is her grandson, \nwho unceasingly endured in the cosmic seas of her \nheart and memory. <br /><br />\nWestendorp once described Ian as “the love of her life.” \nWith the artist’s passing in November of last year, we \nonly hope for their tender reunion, together with Isabel, \nfree from all the pains of humanity and the never-ending \ntribulations of mortality. (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":2012,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/4/5/lot/75.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":74,"next":76,"count_bid":0,"bid_history":[],"tokenExpired":1}