Fernando Amorsolo: Evening Meal on a Raft House
FERNANDO AMORSOLO (1892 - 1972)
Evening Meal on a Raft House
Estimate: PHP 7,500,000 - 8,000,000
Signed and dated '1933' (lower right)
Oil on canvas
38 x 46 cm (15 x 18 in)
Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity issued and signed by Sylvia Amorsolo-Lazo
National Artist Fernando Amorsolo’s impressive and extensive oeuvre single-handedly reshaped the standards of genre painting in the country — his techniques and utilization of the academic style becoming the norm during and long after his lifetime.
Having temporarily lived in the coastal town of Daet in his childhood served as early exposure to the delights of rural living for the young Amorsolo, which clearly manifests in the lot on offer. Painted in 1933, during the master’s so-called “Golden Era,” Evening Meal on a Raft House is a rare and captivating example of the artist’s idyllic figurative style showing subject matter that hearkens back to simpler and more peaceful times. Central to the painting is a family of four settling down for their evening meal in the light of the setting sun. They reside in a bamboo raft house, where a fishing boat can be seen anchored on the far left, thus clueing the viewer that Amorsolo is depicting a family of fisherfolk. What makes this artwork so collectible is its departure from usual motifs — here, instead of daytime scenes featuring farmers toiling in the fields and women bathing or washing clothes in the riverside, the artist instead chooses to illustrate fishermen winding down to rest with their families at the end of the day. The influence of Impressionism and the artist’s mastery over oil painting is clearly exhibited in the carefully painted dapples of light shining off the water, and in the distorted reflection of the hut in the ocean. The romantic atmosphere that would dominate his later works is evidenced by the gentle hues of the cloudy sky — rendered in a soft hued symphony of orange, blue, and white — amplifying the dream-like calm that settles over the scene, and embodying the innocent charm and delicacy that makes Amorsolo’s works so embedded in the Filipino consciousness and beloved by collectors the world over.
Lot 70 of the Salcedo Auctions auction on June 25, 2022. Please see salcedoauctions.com for more information.
Fernando Amorsolo: Evening Meal on a Raft House
FERNANDO AMORSOLO (1892 - 1972)
Evening Meal on a Raft House
Estimate: PHP 7,500,000 - 8,000,000
Signed and dated '1933' (lower right)
Oil on canvas
38 x 46 cm (15 x 18 in)
Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity issued and signed by Sylvia Amorsolo-Lazo
National Artist Fernando Amorsolo’s impressive and extensive oeuvre single-handedly reshaped the standards of genre painting in the country — his techniques and utilization of the academic style becoming the norm during and long after his lifetime.
Having temporarily lived in the coastal town of Daet in his childhood served as early exposure to the delights of rural living for the young Amorsolo, which clearly manifests in the lot on offer. Painted in 1933, during the master’s so-called “Golden Era,” Evening Meal on a Raft House is a rare and captivating example of the artist’s idyllic figurative style showing subject matter that hearkens back to simpler and more peaceful times. Central to the painting is a family of four settling down for their evening meal in the light of the setting sun. They reside in a bamboo raft house, where a fishing boat can be seen anchored on the far left, thus clueing the viewer that Amorsolo is depicting a family of fisherfolk. What makes this artwork so collectible is its departure from usual motifs — here, instead of daytime scenes featuring farmers toiling in the fields and women bathing or washing clothes in the riverside, the artist instead chooses to illustrate fishermen winding down to rest with their families at the end of the day. The influence of Impressionism and the artist’s mastery over oil painting is clearly exhibited in the carefully painted dapples of light shining off the water, and in the distorted reflection of the hut in the ocean. The romantic atmosphere that would dominate his later works is evidenced by the gentle hues of the cloudy sky — rendered in a soft hued symphony of orange, blue, and white — amplifying the dream-like calm that settles over the scene, and embodying the innocent charm and delicacy that makes Amorsolo’s works so embedded in the Filipino consciousness and beloved by collectors the world over.
Lot 70 of the Salcedo Auctions auction on June 25, 2022. Please see salcedoauctions.com for more information.