Art circles have been abuzz for the past couple of weeks with the recent discovery of a purported study, or boceto, of Juan Luna’s “Spoliarium.” The painting’s provenance and authenticity have been debated across various social media platforms since "Bandila" and ANC-X broke the news on the evening of August 29.

From information supplied by Ramon “Richie” Lerma, whose Salcedo Auctions is putting the boceto up for auction later this month, we reported the boceto was acquired by heirs of the Castiñeira family from Sarria, a small town in Galicia, Spain. It was passed on to them by Doña Maria Nunez Rodriguez, the daughter-in-law of patriarch Don Jose Vazquez Castiñeira.

Our knowledge of the painting’s provenance stopped there—with gaps in the narrative supplied by speculation regarding the original owner of the artwork, and the circumstances surrounding how it was passed down to the Castiñeira heirs. As far as we knew, there was only one set of Castiñeira heirs—the current owners who possess both the boceto and a painting by Felix Resurrección Hidalgo.

Last September 6, 2018, Lerma was emailed by yet another set of Castiñeira heirs (whose existence heretofore had not been known to Lerma). They revealed themselves to be the former owners of the “España y Filipinas,” a familiar oil on canvas work depicting two women who are known to represent Spain and the Philippines. This Luna painting was sold by the family at the Balclis auction in Barcelona in 2012, and eventually resold at the Sotheby’s Hong Kong 40th Anniversary Auction Evening Sale in 2013. It was acquired at this time by the National Gallery of Singapore for its permanent collection.

These heirs disclosed that while Doña Maria Nunez Rodriguez was on her deathbed, she had gathered her relatives around her and asked them to select paintings from her collection. One set of heirs chose “Espana y Filipinas,” and the other set chose the boceto. Both sets of heirs support the story in separate e-mail correspondences with Lerma.

Instead of the original theory that the Castiñeiras were given the Luna and Hidalgo paintings by Don Mattias Lopez, the premier chocolatier of Spain, and possible friend to the original Castiñeira patriarch, stronger evidence points to the paintings being owned by ilustrado novelist, poet, and Propaganda figure, Pedro Paterno. Paterno, Luna and Hidalgo were compatriots in Spain.

It is now believed that the Luna paintings in the Castiñeira collection were gifts from Luna to Paterno, and that “España y Filipinas” was acquired by the Castiñeira family through a friendship with Paterno’s wife, Dona Maria Luisa Piñeiro de Paterno—a Spanish woman who hailed from the same province as the Castiñeira family.

This provenance was noted by premier historian, Ambeth Ocampo, in the Sotheby’s catalogue that accompanied the auction in 2013:

"The painting was originally given by Luna as a gift to Pedro Paterno, who displayed it in his home in Madrid (called by many the 'Museo Paterno'). Paterno, himself an important figure in Philippine history and the Prime Minister of the First Philippine Republic, was a patron of the Philippine expatriate community. It has been suggested that Paterno proposed the theme to Luna; Paterno was then a strong supporter of Spanish involvement in the Philippines. España y Filipinas was soon acquired by a friend of Paterno’s wife, whose family retained the painting until last year."

Whatever new discoveries turn up before the auction, we know one thing for sure: Luna’s Spoliarium boceto and his “Espana y Filipinas” painting both fell into the hands of the Castiñeira family.

If we believe in the authenticity of the Luna painting in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Singapore, we may now draw our own reasonable conclusions as to the authenticity of the “Spoliarium” boceto.