An object previously described as “priceless” fetched P31,240,600 at auction last weekend. Small and fragile because it is made of plaster, it is one of the last few pieces of sculpture by Jose Rizal that was previously in the possession of his descendants.
Everyone, even history, has a price.
Juan Luna captured his ill-fated wife asleep in a painting known as “Ensueños de Amor” (Dreams of Love). Likewise, Rizal depicted his common-law wife asleep, naked under the sheets, in plaster. Both works are sensuous and suggestively erotic. These works remind us that heroes are not made of marble and bronze, but of flesh and blood. They were human, yet textbook history will never teach us that our heroes were occasionally horny, that they laughed, cried, and even farted.
