{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":3558,"auction_id":6,"set_id":8,"lot_number":"154","artist":"Fernando Amorsolo (1892 - 1972)","title":"A Firelit Night with Musicians","starting_price":1800000,"signed_dated":"signed and dated 1938 (lower left)","medium":"oil on board","size":"16\" x 12\" (41 cm x 30 cm)","property":"PROPERTY FROM THE DR. WENCESLAO PASCUAL COLLECTION","coa":"Accompanied by a certificate issued by Sylvia Amorsolo-Lazo confirming the authenticity of this lot","provenance":"A gift from the Lopez Family to Dr. Wenceslao Pascual","exhibited":null,"literature":null,"write_up":"A Rare Moonlit Amorsolo\nHarana by the Fire<br /><br />Fernando Amorsolo's \"Golden Period,\" which spanned the 1920s to the 1940s, is marked by the maestro's perennial homage to the Philippine sunlight, drawing influences from Joaquin Sorolla in \"utilizing the sun to draw out the most dramatic effects,\" as Alfredo Roces notes in the book Amorsolo.<br /><br /> But in the rare 1938 work at hand, romantically titled A Firelit Night with Musicians, Amorsolo diverts from the majesty of Philippine sunlight to focus on the sublime grandiosity of the moon. In this piece, the common folks cordially gather around a fire in front of their rustic bahay kubo. They indulge in joyful singing to the accompaniment of the melodic strumming of the guitar, chanting about their day's toiling and their hopes for another promising tomorrow.<br /><br /> The silvery moon luminously reveals itself in the still of the night. The ethereal moonlight casts its reflection on the tranquil waters, making it glisten with a delicate glow. The towering palm tree rises nobly, becoming a silent witness to the folks' untroubled effervescence and their hopes and yearnings for the brighter prospects of the future. <br /><br />While depicting an unusual scene, Amorsolo remains authentic to the collective aspiration of the Filipino people in the milieu of the Commonwealth period; they are in eager anticipation for the rosy promises of selfdetermination and genuine emancipation.<br /><br /> By 1938, Amorsolo had been appointed acting director of the University of the Philippines School of Fine Arts, succeeding his uncle, Fabian de la Rosa, who had died the year prior. Amorsolo held the rank of associate professor.<br /><br /> A Firelit Night with Musicians would find its way—in the optimistic post-war milieu—to Dr. Wenceslao Pascual, Governor of Rizal Province from 1951 to 1955. He, along with his predecessor Gov. Sixto Antonio, undertook the task of post-war rehabilitation and reconstruction in the province.<br /><br /> Born on September 28, 1898, in Malabon, then a part of Rizal, Pascual would become the first and only Rizal governor hailing from his town. A physician by profession, Dr. Pascual graduated from the Philippine Normal School in 1915 and earned his associate of arts and M.D. degrees from the University of the Philippines. He taught physiology at the UP for several years before becoming a pensionado to the prestigious Harvard and Cambridge Universities from 1927 to 1929.<br /><br /> Dr. Pascual would assume the governorship of Rizal in 1951, serving until 1955. A Firelit Night with Musicians would be gifted by the influential Lopez Family of Iloilo to Dr. Pascual around 1953 to 1955, when he became a member of the Nacionalista Party (The Lopezes had backed the candidacy of Nacionalista standard bearer Ramon Magsaysay in the 1953 elections, where he eventually won. Their kin, Fernando Lopez, Sr., also won a senate seat.).<br /><br /> Among the most prominent efforts of Pascual in the immediate post-war reconstruction was the construction and completion of new roads to further strengthen social and economic integration to the neighboring capital city of Manila and between towns in the province. Roads completed under Gov. Pascual's term include Gilmore Avenue (connecting Highway 54 (EDSA) to Pasig); Parañaque-Sucat Road; Pateros-Tipas Road (connecting Pateros and Taguig); Cainta-Kay Tikling Road, which eased travel from Pasig, Marikina, and Manila to the pilgrim town of Antipolo. Improvements in the road to the Provincial Capitol and the further development of the Hinulugang Taktak as a recreation area transpired under his term. Gov. Pascual was also responsible for constructing an annex building and a nurses' home for the Rizal Provincial Hospital.<br /><br />  When Dr. Pascual's term as governor ended, he served as governor of the Development Bank of the Philippines. <br /><br />Dr. Pascual’s ancestral house in Hulong Duhat, Malabon, built in 1930 and designed by National Artist for Architecture Juan Nakpil, is a heritage house conserved and protected by the Malabon LGU. Governor Pascual Avenue in Malabon, the city's longest national road, bears his name. (A.M.)","lot_group":"PAINTING","lot_details_html":null,"alias":null,"hp":4800000,"bp":0.168,"isWithdrawn":0,"accounting_hp":4800000,"userBid":5926,"isPaid":0,"userId":22,"lot_status":"SOLD","isDone":1,"bid_history_id":null,"reserve_price":null,"hammer_price":5606400,"fav":0},"image":[{"id":3828,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/6/8/lot/154.jpg","isFeatured":1},{"id":3832,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/6/8/lot/154a.jpg","isFeatured":0}]},"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":153,"next":155,"count_bid":0,"bid_history":[],"tokenExpired":1}