National Museum invokes right over Rizal’s ‘Mona Lisa’

Our national hero Jose Rizal must be smiling in his grave.

After a savage bidding war over Rizal’s Josephine Sleeping, the National Museum of the Philippines put its own jaw-dropping epilogue to the historic Kingly Treasures auction of León Gallery held last Nov. 30.

The sculpture, made of plaster of Paris, portrayed Rizal’s love, Josephine Bracken, sleeping peacefully, her curves outlined under the sheets.

It was created during Rizal’s isolation and exile in distant Dapitan in Zamboanga, months before he would meet his martyrdom on Bagumbayan Field or today’s Luneta, according to an article by Lisa Guerrero-Nakpil published in The STAR last week.

Ten bidders joined the bidding, which ultimately fetched a whopping P31 million.

Days later, however, the National Museum exercised its law-mandated “right of first refusal” for the Rizal sculpture and three other rare finds.

This marked a first for Philippine art, according to Guerrero-Nakpil.

On the day of the auction, National Museum director general Jeremy Barns had already said that the museum might exercise its right of first refusal.

When I asked León Gallery director Jaime Ponce de Leon about this, he said that indeed, the National Museum made its move.

Here is an excerpt from the National Museum’s letter to Jaime.

“The National Museum of the Philippines, as authorized by its Board of Trustees, hereby invokes and exercises its right of first refusal as provided by Section 23 of Republic Act 11333, with respect to Lot Nos. 68, 84, 86 and 87 of ‘The Kingly Treasures Auction 2024’ held by León Gallery last Nov. 30, 2024, the interest of the National Museum in which was duly communicated to you in my letter of Nov. 27, 2024, and will match and pay the winning bid prices for each, together with the respective applicable Buyer’s Premium and Value-Added Tax (VAT).”

Josephine Sleeping was Lot 68 while Lot No. 84 is a photograph of Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo painting the controversial El Asesinato del Gobernador Bustamante (The Assassination of Governor Bustamante).

The equally controversial painting depicts a mob of Dominican friars killing Governor Bustamante, the first field marshal to serve as governor general of the Philippines.

The painting is displayed at the Spoliarium Hall of the museum.

Lot No. 86 is a pass to the 1889 Paris Exposition and a calling card photograph of Resurreccion Hidalgo with his signature.

Lot No. 87 featured a signed letter written in French to Resurreccion Hidalgo from the Directeur des Bâtiments Civils et des Palais Nationaux, dated March 12, 1889.

Art as history

These treasures no doubt have significance in our history as a people and as a nation and I am not surprised that the National Museum chose to exercise its right of first refusal over these rare finds.

It would have been more surprising if it hadn’t.

Every artwork after all tells a story and in this case, it tells our history, and how rich our history truly is.

As these rare finds show, the telling and retelling of our history is as important as our own identity.

Who was Bracken, for instance, to Rizal and how did she influence him, if at all, in his last days?

As described by Guerrero-Nakpil, Bracken was the blue-eyed Irish girl who would steal Rizal’s heart. She arrived in Dapitan sometime in early 1895 and would make the last 20 months of Rizal’s life deliriously happy.

“Rizal would call her his ‘golondrina’ after the migratory swallow, ‘Miss B.,’ the ‘sweet foreigner’ and on his last day on earth, ‘my unhappy wife.’

“Rizal would marry her two hours before his execution, although no marriage certificate exists.”

Jaime believes that Josephine Sleeping is Rizal’s Mona Lisa. “If Da Vinci had his Mona Lisa, then this is Rizal’s own mysterious beauty. Josephine Bracken has always been an enigma in Philippine history,” Jaime said.

Every art work, indeed, tells a story. These pieces are no exception and they no doubt form part of the thread that comprises our canvas as a society and as a nation.

Sometimes, however, they don’t necessarily tell big stories of martyrdom or revolutions.

They simply depict love or presumably, dreams of love, as with Josephine Sleeping, a testament that our heroes existed in flesh and blood, committing mistakes, enduring follies and aspiring for mundane things just like each of us.

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Email: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @eyesgonzales. Column archives at EyesWideOpen on FB.