With a starting bid of five million, the super rare
letras y figuras
Views of Manila must have sold for an eye-watering sum in last Saturday’s Leon Gallery auction. It was painted in the 1840s by
José Honorato Lozano (ca. 1815-1885), surely either as a souvenir or as a going away gift to an expat with a Manila trading firm, probably American.
Damian Domingo (1796-1834), one of our earliest artists known by name, pioneered in painting figures as
tipos del pais, i.e.,
sangleyes of various occupations and social standings in typical costumes.
Lozano did him one better by positioning figures such as to form letters that spell out a name or in the auctioned object, a phrase. The galleon trade had just ended and non-Spanish traders were permitted to open shop in the Philippines. They were into exports (e.g., sugar, abaca, coffee), imports (e.g., household goods, textiles, wines), shipping, insurance, etc. Lozano’s works were great mementos and, soon enough, the local gentry