Fernando Amorsolo: The Happy Patriot

Fernando Amorsolo would singlehandedly create the world of the happy patriot. Not for him the thunder and lightning of a gladiator's death in the "Spoliarium" of Juan Luna, nor the tearful Christian virgins under the heel of the Roman empire, conjured by Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo.

- By LISA GUERRERO NAKPIL

Belonging to a more peaceful time, Amorsolo believed that love of country could be expressed in harmony and not in conflict.

Jaime Ponce de Leon, founder of Leon Gallery, has seen thousands of Amorsolos, as they bear silent witness to a bygone era, and as they pass through the portals of his auction house.

He believes that Amorsolo's unique optimism strikes a chord with everyone, creating and inspiring a new kind of patriotism.

"Amorsolo simply appeals to everyone. You can be a modern or contemporary art collector and an Amorsolo will never be out of place in an abstract-art collection. Amorsolo truly is the greatest representation of Philippine art."

Alpha-collector Paulino Que says that the trust that all is well in the world comes from the perfection in Amorsolo's proportions and the truth to be found in the correctness of the anatomy and faces of his figures. Que calls him the Philippines' greatest portraitist.

Nobody can easily copy an Amorsolo—his colors and composition are the epitome of authenticity.

But let's look a little closer to the man who started it all: Fernando Amorsolo was born on practically the last day of May in 1892. It would be entirely fitting that the man who celebrated an eternal summer in his works would be born in that sunlit month.

His family would move from Paco, Manila to Daet, Camarines Norte by Christmas of that year and would stay there until his father's passing 11 years later.