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PROPERTY FROM THE EDITH O'FARRELL COLLECTION Ecce Homo or Portrait of Christ signed and inscribed "copia" (lower right) oil on canvas 19 1/2" x 16" (50 cm x 41 cm) Gaston O'Farrell's solemn version of Juan Luna's 1887 work, Portrait of Christ, is a surviving and precious memento of Luna's now-lost masterpiece from his prolific Parisian Period, Luna’s own gilded age. Luna's original painting of Christ, which served as the basis for Gaston O'Farrell's rendition, depicts the Messiah in tattered clothing. His face is painted in close-up, emphasizing His weary eyes and unkempt hair as He faces Pontius Pilate in the praetorium for His trial. Referred to as Portrait of Christ in Albano Pilar's Luna monograph, it is unknown whether the painting still exists or was destroyed in the war (only a photo of it exists, in the Luis Araneta collection). Portrait of Christ was painted during the Holy Week of April 1887, four months after Luna married Paz Pardo de Tavera. It is said that Luna painted the work to prove his religious piety to his wife, since her mother, Dona Juliana, initially had prejudices against Luna, as he was still considered an indio despite his ilustrado upbringing and European education. Gaston O'Farrell likely painted his copy of Luna's Portrait of Christ sometime between 1894 and 1896, probably in his teacher’s studio in Calle Alix. This means that Luna’s original Portrait of Christ that he painted in 1887 survived the turbulence of his court trial and brought the work with him to the Philippines, likely displaying it in his Manila studio where Gaston O’Farrell copied it. Gaston O’Farrell inscribed the word “copia” below his signature, a snapshot of a student learning all the classical tenets of painting from his esteemed mentor. Gaston O’Farrell follows the ideals of Neoclassicism, employing a somber palette and a refined, restrained chiaroscuro effect to emphasize the humanity of a suffering God. Juan Luna and his two brothers, Antonio and Jose, would be imprisoned from September 1896 to May 1897 for their supposed involvement with the Katipunan (Luna’s return from his Japanese trip was ill-timed). The Luna brothers were arrested on the grounds of them being Freemasons and were incarcerated, first at the Bilibid, then at Fort Santiago, before being finally transferred to the Cuartel de Caballeria, Regimiento de Lanceros. While in prison, Luna decorated the rough walls of his prison with drawings of ants and cockroaches, sketched chulas, and painted religious pictures to temper suspicions of being involved with the revolution. One of these works, a painting of Christ, Ecce Homo, was gifted by Luna to the Jesuit priest Antonio Rossell, one of the instruments for his ultimate pardon by King Alfonso XIII on May 27, 1897. The whereabouts of this painting are also unknown; its existence is corroborated only by a photo, also in the Luis Araneta collection. Luna's incarceration may have aroused pity in his favorite student, making Gaston O’Farrell’s own version of Christ the prisoner a reflection of his beloved mentor’s unfortunate situation as a wrongfully imprisoned individual. A similar painting by Luna, titled El Cristo de la Paciencia, painted in the late 1890s, was auctioned by Leon Gallery in March 2024. The said work offers a broader perspective than the 1887 painting and Gaston O’Farrell’s copy, in which Jesus is now seen sitting on a stool, with His hands tied, yet His face still retaining that mournfully divine character. Luna gifted this work to Don Nicolas de la Pena, the Spanish auditor-general and the Spanish military court's chief legal adviser, who sealed Rizal's fate by signing his execution by firing squad. Gaston O'Farrell's copies of Luna's works, particularly this Portrait of Christ, bring to mind the copy of Leonardo Vinci's iconic Mona Lisa at the Prado in Madrid, reportedly the copy of da Vinci's magnum opus with the highest historical and cultural value. Known as the "Prado Mona Lisa," the painting is the oldest known copy of the Mona Lisa. The Prado Museum once theorized that the "Prado Mona Lisa" may have been painted simultaneously at the same time da Vinci was painting his, with two of his favorite students and apprentices, Francisco Melzi or Salaí, the most credible authors of the said copy. Coincidentally, Luna also visited the Prado when he was a student of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid, copying and earnestly studying the technique of the old European masters: Raphael, Velázquez, El Greco, Caravaggio, and Goya. This brings us full circle: the young Gaston O'Farrell keen on learning Luna's techniques by copying his paintings, which the latter devotedly practiced when he was still a budding artist.