SPANISH COLONIAL PERIOD

What kinds of arts were developed during Spanish colonization?

 • To carry out the project of colonization and
Christianization, the natives were forcibly resettledin
towns structured according to the plaza complex.
This relocating became a means of organizing and
gaining control of the native populace.
• The complex was designated as the town center and
consisted of the municipio or local government
W HAT K I N D S O F ART S W E R E office and the church, Designed according to the
DE VE L O P E D D U R I NG S PAN I S H
prescriptions of the Spanish crown, the Church
C O L O N I Z AT I O N?
established its importance in people’s lives through
its imposing scale and overall visual appeal.

- Stylistically and culturally as religious art • During this period, cruciform churches following the
shape of the Latin cross were built. In keeping with
- lowland Christian art
the prevailing design of Hispanic churches, the
-folk art. baroque style was predominantly employed; they
were characterized by grandeur, drama, and
elaborate details that purposely appealed to the
emotions.
 BAROQUE STYLE
CHURCHES

Examples of baroque churches that have survived to this day are the San
Agustin Church in Manila, Morong Church in Rizal, Paoay Church in
llocos Norte, and Sto, Tomas de Villanueva Church in Miag-ao, lloilo.
Although the designs are European-inspired, local interventions have been
employed in order to suit native sensibilities and adjust to local
environmental conditions.
The facade of Miag-ao Church features St. Christopher surrounded by
reliefs or relleves having tropical motifs like palm fronds and papaya trees.
The use of adobe, limestone, or brick and the construction of thick
buttresses or wing-like projections reinforce the church structure to make it
more resistant to earthquakes. In other words, the result is a fusion of both
native and European elements, prompting some art historians to referto the
style as colonial baroque or Philippine or tropical baroque.
Images of saints and interpretations of biblical narratives were considered
essential to worship.
 During the 17th
century, Chinese artisans, under Spanish supervision were
engaged in making

icons or saints or santos (in the vernacular) in wood and ivory;

building churches
SAINTS OR SANTOS
and houses; as well as making furniture. They were spread
throughout centers of

• creative production such as Cebu, Batangas, Manila, and

Ilocos.
 NUESTRA SENORA DEL
ROSARIO

Their involvement

resulted in works that drew upon Chinese

features and techniques. An example is

a painting of Nuestra Senora del Rosario in

Bohol, the image of which was said to
be inspired from Kuanyin, the deity of mercy
in East Asian Buddhism.
 RETABLO

The Greek and Roman classical influence can be

seen in the proportion

employed as well as the formality of expression

while the trace of the Baroque is

evident in the expressive and emotional

characteristics of the santo. In colonial
churches, santos are displayed in a decorative altar
niche called the retablo.
 TROMP OEIL

(Tromp oeil is French for “fooling the eye” It

refers to paintin

give a heightened illusion of three-dimensionality.)

Church altars are someti

‘decorated with carved figurative protrusions on

the surface called relleves; or
the organic designs of hammered silver or the
plateria.
 PLATERIA

The plateria technique

also applied in the body of the carroza, where the santos are paraded
during processions

With the coming of the Spaniards, who brought western musical

instrument

like the pipe organ, the violin, the guitar, and the piano, Philippine
musical

also took on a very European flavor—with new rhythms, melodies

and musica
forms, that Filipinos proceeded to adopt them and make their own.
 PASYON OR PABASA

Outside of Manila, a musical form based on

Catholic faith would emerge in the pasyon or pabasa
as it is sometimes a biblical narration of Christ’s
passion chanted in an improvised melody.
It is a tradition that has survived to this day. Atonal
and repetitive, the melody
is sometimes read and chanted to the tune of love
songs popular with young
readers who would otherwise spark up this activity in
other ways as this could
for the entire length of Holy Week.
 This practice is evident in areas like Sampalogs,
contemporary neighborhood of the city of Manila.
Among the lowland Christian communities of
Pampanga, Ilocos, Bicol, and
• Iloilo, secular music forms such as the awit and
KUNDIMAN the corrido soon flourished.
• At this time, the kundiman and the balitao,
balitao-sentimental
• love songs and lullabies also evolved. During the
latter half of the 19th cent
• when revolutionary sentiments began to develop,
the kundiman.
• Spoke of resignation and fatalism, became a
vehicle for resistance.
 The lyrics were that of unrequited love,
was the Philippines who would be cleverly
concealed as a beautiful woman.
Demonstrated in such songs as Kundiman ni
Abdon (Abdon’s Love Song)

KUNDIMAN NI ABDON kundiman which became a feature of protest

actions against Martial Law
BAYAN KO the seventies, and the still popular Bayan Ko
(My Country), a kundiman
experienced renewed popularity during the
EDSA People Power Revolution
• 1986.
 During the 19th century, a popular form of musical theater
was
imported from Spain. The zarzuela or sarsuwela was an
operetta which features
singing and dancing interspersed with prose dialogue which
allowed the story to
• be carried out in song.
ZARZUELA OR SARSUELA
• The first zarzuelas that were staged in the Philippines
were
• entirely in Spanish and featured a European cast. Local
playwrights later wrote
• librettos in the local language, hence the term sarsuwela.
Severino Reyes and
• Hermogenes Ilagan, who wrote sarsuwelas in Tagalog
were the most distinguished
• playwrights of their day with Honorata‘Atang’dela Rama
(National Artist for theater
• and Music, awarded 1987) as their most celebrated
leading actress.
 The first senakulo or Passion play was written
in 1704 by Gaspar Aquino de
Belen. Its narrative was culled entirely from the
biblical account of Christ’s passion
and death on the cross, adapted into verse form
SENAKULO and translated into the local
• language. It is performed during Lent and in
some cases, may last for three days
• In some areas, the senakulo was tweaked to
convey Christ’s suffering as a metaphor
• for the suffering of Filipinos under Spanish
colonial rule.
 • The komedya is another local theater form that
emerged during this period.
• The komedya depicts the conflict between the
Muslims and Christians. There were
• two main types of the komedya. One type was the
komedya de santo or religious
• komedya. It centers on the life of Christ or of any
KOMEDYA saint. It usually seen during church
• celebrations. The actors move in a stylized way, have
extravagant costumes and
• elaborately choreographed war scenes. Another type
is the secular komedya.The moro-moro is a type of
secular komedya. The word ‘moro’ is derived from
the
• Spanish word for Moor or the North African Arabs
who ruled parts of Spain from the
• eighth to the 15th century. A typical moro-moro story
would usually involve a love
• story between a Christian hero and an Islamic heroine
or vice versa.
 In the visual arts, paintings served an instructive
function through visual
interpretation of biblical texts central to Catholic
devotion. An example is Heaven,
• Earth, and Hell (1850), a mural by Jose Dans in
Paete Church, Laguna.
VISUAL ARTS • A map of the universe features a terrifying
depiction of hell. The painting seems to warn
• that a sinful life on earth would lead to torment
and eternal damnation. In another |
• Part of the Church, we see two versions of San
Cristobal. The more restrained
• depiction of the saint was painted on a wooden
Panel. It was discovered later on
• that this version concealed an earlier work of the
same subject, painted directly on
• the wall (fresco).
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