THE QUEST

Jaime Ponce de Leon recounts his journey to finding Juan Luna's long-lost piece, Hymen, oh Hymenee, considered the Holy Grail of Philippine

- EA Sta Maria

The journey of a thousand miles—stretching over more than ten years—would end unexpectedly with a seconds-long phone call somewhere in a European capital. “One fine day, an old friend in the art business rang me up with a tantalising message. He said he had something special that I would certainly want to see and then asked me to go to a certain address and to come precisely at 10am,” confides Jaime Ponce de Leon, whose name has become interchangeable with the “find of the century”, none other than Luna’s lost masterpiece, Hymen, oh Hymenee.

He had no idea what to expect at the time.

“In my mind, I thought, perhaps it was a Resurreccion Hidalgo painting or one by Miguel Zaragoza. Perhaps even a Juan Luna, but Lunas had become extremely rare,” says Ponce de Leon. He is, of course, not a stranger to finding links and chasing down leads worldwide. “Once, I was in Brussels and chanced upon an antique shop along the Sablon neighbourhood. I enjoy exploring little shops selling objects and even old frames, and I usually begin my foray by asking if they have anything from the Philippines. Half of the time, the proprietors would reply, ‘Where is that?’; but that afternoon, the gentleman behind the counter answered, ‘Yes!’ and he made a call, and through his very thick accent, I could make out the name ‘Fah-bi-an de la Rose-sa’. I was sent to another street close by, and as soon as the door opened, I saw a wonderful portrait of a woman with waist-length hair near the distance. It was just amazing!”