{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":36987,"auction_id":47,"set_id":75,"lot_number":"23","artist":"Antonio G. Dumlao (1912-1983)","title":"Copy of the Spoliarium","starting_price":1000000,"signed_dated":"ca.1960 signed (lower right)","medium":"oil on canvas","size":"48” x 82 1/2” (122 cm x 210 cm)","property":null,"coa":null,"provenance":"Private Collection, Manila","exhibited":null,"literature":null,"write_up":"Antonio G. Dumlao was a very accomplished artist in his own  right having said to have made better watercolor works than his  very good friend Vicente Manansala. He was a shy artist who  shunned publicity and relied on his patron Don Andres Soriano  for introductions to his friends and acquaintances. At this time,  he was the art director of San Miguel Corporation of which the  Sorianos owned and did numerous murals for San Miguel and  Philippine Air Lines offices here and abroad. He also did murals for  the Far Eastern University, as well as numerous other homes and  institutions.  The Spoliarium by Juan Luna that is now in the National Museum  of the Philippines was a gift by the Franco Government in Spain in  1958. Unfortunately, because of its size, the painting was sliced  into three pieces before it was crated and brought to the country.  The painting was later restored by Antonio G. Dumlao before it was  unveiled again in 1962. The painting remained at the DFA before  it was transferred to the National Museum where it can be seen  today.  There can be no other artist who could do a better copy of the  Spoliarium than one who has studied and matched the actual  colors, strokes, and the anatomy of Juan Luna's most important  work than Antonio G. Dumlao.  Describing Dumlao’s version would be no different in visually  describing Luna’s masterpiece:  Its subject is drawn from classical antiquity, specifically the period of  imperial Rome, when bloody gladiator combats were hailed as  public entertainment. The gladiators who fought in the arena  were often captive kings, nobles and warriors from the territories  conquered by Rome. “Spoliarium” was the name given to the  basement hall of the Roman Coliseum to which, after the bloody  ordeal in the arena, the dying or dead combatants were dragged,  there to be despoiled of their last worldly belongings, and where  relatives and friends went to claim the bodies and those abandoned  were put to the torch. At the center of the painting, two dead gladiators are seen being  dragged by arrogant Romans across the space of the stone floor to be  dumped in a dark corner along with other bodies. On the left, two  elderly scavengers in Roman costume, hunched like vultures, greedily  eye the dead men’s effects; leather boots and straps, protective metal  linings, talismans, and other accessories, while beside them another  Roman raises his fist in protest at the inhuman spectacle. On the right,  a woman seated on the ground with her head bowed and her back to  the viewer mourns a loved one, while nearby an old man with a torch  searches for the body of his son amid the smoky haze.  The vast hall of the Spoliarium is suggested by the massive stone walls  and the dimly espied steps on the left where the crowd pours in from  the arena into the hall.  The composition of Spoliarium is basically triangular, with emphasis  on diagonal lines for dynamic effect: Luna moved from the smooth,  marmoreal style of the classical academy to a more spontaneous  approach. The influence of baroque and romanticism is seen in the  looser brushwork leaving flecks of color, the sense of movement and  turmoil in the vociferous gestures and straining muscles of the figures,  the chiaroscuro in the flickering highlights and transparent layers of  darkness, and in the deep emotional tone which contrasts harsh  stentorian voices with deep, elegiac mourning.  The drama of the work arises from its contrasting moods, i.e. the noisy,  avid crowd on the left and the grieving figures on the right. In the  portrayal of the two groups is brought out the relationship between  dominant and dominated, victor and victim. As such, this painting of  imperial Roman cruelty has been interpreted as an allegory of Spain in  the Philippines.","lot_group":"PAINTING","lot_details_html":null,"alias":null,"hp":3200000,"bp":0.168,"isWithdrawn":0,"accounting_hp":3200000,"userBid":5927,"isPaid":0,"userId":22,"lot_status":"SOLD","isDone":1,"bid_history_id":null,"reserve_price":null,"hammer_price":3737600,"fav":0},"image":[{"id":35015,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/47/75/lot/23.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":22,"next":24,"count_bid":0,"bid_history":[],"tokenExpired":1}