SPOLIARIUM: LUNA’S FUTURISTIC VISION 1 Joseph Reylan B. Viray Polytechnic University of the Philippines Spoliarium is Juan Luna’s prize winning entry in the 1884 Madrid National Exposition De Bellas Artes where it won the gold medal--an unequalled achievement during those times. The work was perhaps a product of Luna’s fascination of Rome during his years of stay in this ancient metropolis while working as an apprentice under the ward of European artist, Vera Alejo. This painting is another embodiment of Luna’s creative genius. Other artists saw the Colosseum as a subject itself because of its imposing and regal beauty (e.g. Giovanni Piranesi’s sketch in 1757; Tomas Cole’s oil painting in 1832; Joseph Mallord William Turner’s The Colosseum, Rome, from the West in 1819; Pencil and Ink portrayal of the edifice entitled The Ruins of the Colosseum by Thomas Manby in 1660-90, and etc.). Some either emphasized the violent gladiator fights at the center of the arena (5 th Century Mosaic Painting from Istanbul), or the joyous and sometimes disappointed reactions of the crowd and the Roman officials witnessing the game (Jean- Leon Gerome’s Pollice Verso in 1872) , or the pompous and victorious gladiators waving their bloodied hands (Gerome’s Pollice Verso). Luna was far greater than these European artists portraying the game and the edifice. He saw the drama and the theatricality of the spolarium--a part of the Roman edifice where spoils are dumped. This scene was possibly the most heart-breaking moment of every gladiator fight because this was where defeat, agony and pain rolled into one. This was where the cruelty/barbarism of the ancient game would reach its full fruition. Luna featured dead gladiators being dragged towards the darkest and most dreaded part of the Roman Colosseum. The Filipino genius manipulated dark shades of red, brown and ochre to convey the brutality of the game and to evoke powerful emotions of anguish and pity. The employment of diagonal lines gracefully journeying across the humungous canvas creates the 1 A version of this essay was published in the PUP Monograph Series of 2014, Vol. 1. published by the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Manila.