Rizals Speech

Honoring Luna and

Hidalgo
Group 1
El Spoliarium
 El Spoliarium
Painted by Juan Luna
Submitted to the ExposicinNacionaldeBellas
Artesin1884inMadrid
Garnered1stgoldmedal(outofthree).
SoldtoDiputacin Provincial de Barcelonafor
20,000pesetas last 1886.
Currently
hangs in the main gallery of National
Museum of the Philippines
Las virgenes Cristianas expuestas al populacho
(The Christian virgins Exposed to the Populace)
Las virgenes Cristianas expuestas al populacho
(The Christian virgins Exposed to the Populace)

Painted by Flix Resurreccin Hidalgo

Submitted to the ExposicinNacionaldeBellas
Artesin1884inMadrid
Garnered2ndgoldmedal(outofthree).
Currently hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of
Manila
 Excerpts from the speech

Luna and Hidalgo: their splendor illuminates two extremes of the globe-
the Orient and the Occident, Spain and the Philippines
for genius has no country; genius bursts forth everywhere; genius is like
light and air, the patrimony of all: cosmopolitan as space, as life and God
The Philippines' patriarchal era is passing, the illustrious deeds of its sons
are not circumscribed by the home
To you is due the beauty of the gems that circle the Philippines' crown;
she supplied the stones, Europe the polish. We all contemplate proudly:
you your work; we the inspiration, the encouragement, the materials
furnished.
 Excerpts from the speech

They imbibed there the poetry of nature-nature grand and terrible in her cataclysms,
in her transformations, in her conflict of forces; nature sweet, peaceful and
melancholy in her constant manifestation-unchanging; nature that stamps her seal
upon whatsoever she creates or produces. Her sons carry it wherever they go.
In El Spoliarium -on that canvas which is not mute-is heard the tumult of the throng,
the cry of slaves, the metallic rattle of the armor on the corpses, the sobs of
orphans, the hum of prayers, with as much force and realism as is heard the crash of
the thunder amid the roar of the cataracts, or the fearful and frightful rumble of the
earthquake. The same nature that conceives such phenomena has also a share in
those lines.
 Excerpts from the speech

On the other hand, in Hidalgo's work there are revealed feelings of the purest kind;
ideal expression of melancholy, beauty, and weakness-victims of brute force. And
this is because Hidalgo was born beneath the dazzling azure of that sky, to the
murmur of the breezes of her seas, in the placidity of her lakes, the poetry of her
valleys and the majestic harmony of her hills and mountains.
So in Luna we find the shades, the contrasts, the fading lights, the mysterious and
the terrible, like an echo of the dark storms of the tropics, its thunderbolts, and the
destructive eruptions of its volcanoes. So in Hidalgo we find all is light, color,
harmony, feeling, clearness; like the Philippines on moonlit nights, with her horizons
that invite to meditation and suggest infinity.
 Excerpts from the speech

Yet both of them-although so different-in appearance, at least, are fundamentally

one; just as our hearts beat in unison in spite of striking differences.
Beth, by depicting from their palettes the dazzling rays of the tropical sun,
transform them into rays of unfading glory with which they invest the fatherland.
Both express the spirit of our social, moral and political life; humanity subjected
to hard trials, humanity unredeemed; reason and aspiration in open fight with
prejudice, fanaticism and injustice; because feeling and opinion make their way
through the thickest walls, because for them all bodies are porous, all are
transparent; and if the pen fails them and the printed word does not come to their
aid, then the palette and the brush not only delight the view but are also eloquent
advocates.
 Excerpts from the speech

If the mother teaches her child her language in order to understand its joys,
its needs, and its woes; so Spain, like that mother, also teaches her
language to Filipinos, in spite of the opposition of those purblind pygmies
who, sure of the present, are unable to extend their vision into the future,
who do not weigh the consequences.
Happily, brothers are more-generosity and nobility are innate under the sky
of Spain-of this you are all patent proof. You have unanimously responded,
you have cooperated, and you would have done more, had more been
asked. Seated at our festal board and honoring the illustrious sons of the
Philippines, you also honor Spain, because, as you are well aware, Spain's
boundaries are not the Atlantic or the Bay of Biscay or the Mediterranean-a
shame would it be for water to place a barrier to her greatness, her
thought.
 Excerpts from the speech

Luna and Hidalgo belong to you as much as to us. You love them, you see in them
noble hopes, valuable examples. The Filipino youth of Europealways enthusiastic-
and some other persons whose hearts remain ever young through the
disinterestedness and enthusiasm that characterize their actions, tender Luna a
crown, a humble tribute-small indeed compared to our enthusiasm-but the most
spontaneous and freest of all the tributes yet paid to him.
But the Philippines' gratitude toward her illustrious sons was yet unsatisfied; and
desiring to give free rein to the thoughts that seethe her mind, to the feelings that
overflow her heart, and to the words that escape from her lips, we have all come
together here at this banquet to mingle our vows, to give shape to that mutual
understanding between two races which love and care for each other, united
morally, socially and politically for the space of four centuries, so that they may
form in the future a single nation in spirit, in duties, in aims, in rights.
 Excerpts from the speech

I drink, then, to our artists Luna and Hidalgo, genuine and pure glories of two
peoples. I drink to the persons who have given them aid on the painful road
of art!
I drink that the Filiipno youth-sacred hope of my fatherland may imitate such
valuable examples; and that the mother Spain, solicitous and heedful of the
welfare of her provinces, may quickly put into practice the reforms she has so
long planned. The furrow is laid out and the land is not sterile! And finally, I
drink to the happiness of those parents who, deprived of their sons' affection,
from those distant regions follow them with moist gaze and throbbing hearts
across the seas and distance; sacrificing on the altar of the common good, the
sweet consolations that are so scarce in the decline of life precious and
solitary flowers that spring up on the borders of the tomb.