Unlocking history through wood

Learning the history of an artwork, artifact or even a church can start by simply identifying the type of wood its creators used.

- By EJ MACABABBAD

Take Juan Luna’s paintings. The National Museum tapped the Forest Products Research and Development Institute (FPRDI) to determine the wood species used in the canvas or frames of seven of Luna’s masterpieces.

Within 10 days, the FPRDI, an attached agency of the Department of Science and Technology, discovered that the imposing frame on Luna’s magnum opus “Spoliarium” was made of yakal, a durable hardwood resistant to termites and endemic to the Philippines.

Three of Luna’s paintings — “Study for Obreros en el taller de convertidores Robert de ‘La Vizcaya’” (circa 1893-1894), “My Brother in Our Cell in Fort Santiago” (circa 1896-1897) and “Madrid Wench” (undated) — used ipil and batikuling as canvases, indicating they were created in the Philippines.

Glenn Estudillo, a forester who conducted the wood identification, said this information is valuable for the museum’s record-keeping and future restoration efforts.

“Because of a lack of records, there are paintings that (the National Museum) doesn’t know if Juan Luna made here or in other countries, so the wood will help us know if the artworks were made in the Philippines or abroad,” Estudillo told The STAR last week.