Four historical paintings created by National Artist Fernando C. Amorsolo are displayed at the National Museum of the Philippines for good, as the Judge Guillermo B. Guevara Foundation, Inc. (JGBG) formally turned over the noteworthy artworks, which had been on loan to the museum since 2020.

During the proper turnover recently held at the museum, National Museum Director-General Jeremy R. Barns accepted from JGBG Chairman Victor Guevara the four significant works of art: “Portrait of Judge Guillermo B. Guevara”, “Bataan”, “Assassination of Governor Bustamante”, and “Wakas ni Magallanes”.

The “Portrait of Judge Guillermo Guevara” is the earliest work the sitter commissioned from Amorsolo, along with the portrait of his wife Asuncion Palma Guevara. This is exhibited at the Early 20th Century Philippine Portrait Hall of the National Museum of Fine Arts.

The oil painting, “Bataan”, completed by Amorsolo in 1942, shows at the center the body of a fallen soldier and his mother looking up with sorrowful eyes. Guevara saw the similarity of this artwork with Michelangelo’s Pietà—wherein the Virgin Mary is depicted mourning over her son, Jesus Christ.

According to one of the family members of the lender, Amorsolo feared the Japanese who were occupying the Philippines at that time and decided to erase the USAFFE (United States Army Forces in the Far East) buckle on the soldier’s uniform.

The painting, kept by the artist for 14 years before Guevara acquired it in 1956, is now exhibited in Gallery VIII–Silvina and Juan Laya Hall.

Guevara also commissioned two other works that reflect two important historical events, the “Assassination of Governor Bustamante” and the “Ang Wakas ni Magallanes.”

Completed in 1963, “Ang Wakas ni Magallanes” is Amorsolo’s artistic rendition and interpretation of the fall of Ferdinand Magellan in Mactan. This painting is currently exhibited in Galleries XXV and XXVI (The Longest Journey: The First Journey Around the World).

Meanwhile, “The Assassination of Governor Bustamante”, which was completed in 1965, depicts the assassination of Governor-General Fernando Bustamante and his son on October 11, 1719, at the Palacio del Gobernador in Intramuros. A painting of the same subject made by Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo can also be found at the Spoliarium Hall at the National Museum of Fine Arts.

The National Museum expressed gratitude on JGBG, calling the four historical masterpieces #GiftsToTheNation.