Completed Continental European after 1800, Dress and Textiles 7 comments Which ‘Luna’ painted this portrait: Charles de Luna, or possibly Juan Luna?
Photo credit: Stockport Heritage Services
I am presently doing a study on paintings of Philippine artists who are the equivalents of Eugene Delacroix and Edouard Manet, namely Juan Luna and Felix Resureccion Hidalgo. Presently, this work is attributed to ‘Charles de Luna’ but it is possible that it would be a work of Juan Luna, the famed Philippine 19th portraitist and nationalist.
Matthew Lopez, Entry reviewed by Art UK
Completed, Outcome
The artist has now been amended to Juan Luna (1857–1899).
This change will appear on the Your Paintings website by the end of August 2014. Thank you to all for participating in this discussion. To those viewing this discussion for the first time, please see below for all comments that led to this conclusion.
6 comments
The owning collection of this artwork, Stockport Heritage Services, have explained the painting is only listed as 'possibly' by Charles de Luna (b.c.1812), as it is only signed ‘Luna’ and they have no further details. The date of the painting is 1895, so this would fit in with the period Matthew has given for Juan Luna. (It seems Juan Luna’s birth and death dates are 1857–1899.) From the style of the portrait, Stockport Heritage Services added that the painting does also seem to fit in more with Juan Luna's other work. They were happy to update their records to include Juan Luna as a possible artist. Perhaps a firmer attribution could be defined through this public discussion?
There is a book written by renowned Juan Luna scholar, Santiago Albano Pilar on the definitive works of Juan Luna called "Juan Luna: The Filipino as painter in 1980" which states a "A Mille Floranet; European collection" painted in 1895.
Several paintings by Juan Luna (1857-99) illustrated on line are signed in capitals 'LUNA' which would fit with this painting, as would their subject matter, often fashionable young ladies. Charles de Luna on the other hand seems to have been principally a not strikingly talented painter of horse and miltary subjects.
See here for a fabulous photo of Juan Luna in his Paris studio! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Luna#mediaviewer/File:Juan_Luna.jpg
Could it be inscribed "A Mlle Florance"? The "e"s look similar and the name is sometime spelled that way.
In the absence of a group or leader for non-French post-1800 European paintings, I suggest we can now confidently attribute this to Juan Luna (1857-99).
Hello all,
I responded to Mr Matthew Lopez prior to the discussion being made public, and agreed with his attribution for this painting being Juan Luna and we were happy to change our records to match. It is wonderful to have a correct attribution for this beautiful painting. Many thanks for your comments. It is good to see how much interest this discussion has raised.