{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":33165,"auction_id":41,"set_id":66,"lot_number":"87","artist":"An Exceedingly Significant Letter from José Rizal","title":null,"starting_price":1000000,"signed_dated":"Dated Madrid, 10 October 1883","medium":"A single sheet of paper, written in the Philippine","size":"a.) 5 1/4”x 3 1/2” (13 cm x 9 cm) b.) 8”x 5 1/4” (","property":null,"coa":null,"provenance":"Provenance: From the collection of noted scholar D","exhibited":null,"literature":null,"write_up":"Rizal’s Madrid Letter — At the Crossroads of Love and History  Rizal’s letter to his parents from Madrid, October 1883 is at the crossroads of both his personal life and historical one.  It is exceedingly significant as it gives the context of time, place, and circumstance of important events that would take place soon afterwards. The letter thus gives added dimension to the country’s foremost hero. Like any Filipino ex-patriate, he would succumb to the enchantments of his foreign surroundings but also to its political liberalism.  The letter situates him at No. 15 Calle del Baño (the Street of the Bath) where he claims slyly that he is there “para dormir y estudiar solamente” — or “only to sleep and study.”   The house at Calle del Baño was owned by one Don Pablo Ortiga y Rey, former Mayor of Manila who had retired to the home country, becoming president of a society of ex-Philippine residents. He would make rooms available to ilustrado students and would also host musical evenings for the homesick Filipinos.   Don Pablo had two daughters, the “prettier one” being the 18 year-old Consuelo. She would keep a rather detailed, if indiscreet diary, of her gentlemen admirers, which included our National Hero, José Rizal, then only 23 years of age.  Rizal arrived in Madrid in 1882 and would meet Consuelo in September. He writes in his journal that he thinks of Leonor Rivera and is disturbed by a dream that she has become unfaithful. Yet “in typical masculine fashion” he begins “a long flirtation” with the Spanish Consuelo, forgetting his Filipina friend.   Consuelo writes, “Rizal says he never goes out except to go to medical school and to come here at night.. Rizal too is in love, he hasn’t proposed outright but almost, almost… I am divided between Rizal and Lete, the former attracts me because of his conversation and because he seems such a serious young man… Rizal told me he was leaving for Paris to forget, to heal himself of a disease acquired a year ago…\"  He gives her a variety of gifts, including fabric and slippers from Manila; also music sheets from that trip to Paris and even the first bloom from his houseplant.  More importantly, he would write a poem for her, titled “A la Señorita C. O. y R.” It would include one of the following verses:  “Why resurrect unhappy memories now when the heart awaits from love a sign, or call the night when day begins to smile, not knowing if another day will shine?”  It was all desperate melancholy.  Eventually, Consuelo would decide to give her heart to that other Manileño, Eduardo de Lete. Rizal, without knowing this, would bow out to avoid friction with a fellow countryman.  Rizal’s letter would also reveal that he would take his meals at the very next street, at Calle del Lobo (the Street of the Wolf), which had a couple of restaurants frequented by the Filipinos including the “Hotel Ingles”, which still exists to these day.  The “Hotel Ingles” on Calle del Lobo would be the location of the famous celebration a few months later, hosted by Pedro Paterno for the double victories of Juan Luna and Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo at the Madrid exposition of fine arts.  Jose Rizal would make the legendary ‘brindis’ or toast, but would include so many political barbs and insults to the Spanish colonial authorities that his brother Paciano would fear for his life and plead for him not to return to the Philippines.  This would mark Rizal’s metamorphosis as activist that would reach its zenith in his novels, the Noli and the Fili, and his eventual martyrdom.   -Lisa Guerrero Nakpil","lot_group":"OBJET D' ARTS","lot_details_html":null,"alias":null,"hp":1000000,"bp":0.168,"isWithdrawn":0,"accounting_hp":1000000,"userBid":5927,"isPaid":0,"userId":22,"lot_status":"SOLD","isDone":1,"bid_history_id":null,"reserve_price":null,"hammer_price":1168000,"fav":0},"image":[{"id":31126,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/41/66/lot/87.jpg","isFeatured":1}]},"increment":[900000,1000000,1100000,1200000,1300000,1400000,1500000,1600000,1700000,1800000,1900000,2000000,2200000,2400000,2600000,2800000,3000000,3200000,3400000,3600000,3800000,4000000,4200000,4400000,4600000,4800000,5000000,5500000,6000000,6500000,7000000,7500000,8000000,8500000,9000000,9500000,10000000,11000000,12000000,13000000,14000000,15000000,16000000,17000000,18000000,19000000,20000000],"prev":86,"next":88,"count_bid":0,"bid_history":[],"tokenExpired":1}