Gallery II – Gallery of the Via Crusis of an Unknown Bohol Master
Gallery II – Gallery of the Via Crusis of an Unknown Bohol Master, at the second floor of the National Museum of Fine Arts, features 14 paintings depicting the Stations of the Cross (Via Crusis).
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Gallery entrance
These masterpieces were done by an unknown master from Bohol and the particular church where these paintings originated is also unknown.
Station I (Jesus is Condemned to Death)
Station II (Jesus Carries His Cross). Check out the Chocolate Hills” in the background
Inscribed with the year 1830, they are among the oldest surviving complete (most were sold individually) series of depictions of the Stations of the Cross in the Philippines.
Station III (Jesus Falls the First Time)
Station IV (Jesus Meets his Mother)
Done on wood panels, they depict the Passion of Christ in great detail in the folk and native style primarily due to the simplistic rendering and flatness of the plane.
Station VI (Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus)
Station VII (Jesus Falls the Second Time)
Interesting characteristics include the depiction of the distinctive Boholano landscape of conical hills (known in the mid-20th century as the “Chocolate Hills”).
Check out “Chocolate Hills” and “Chocolate Hills Adventure Park”
Station VIII (Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem)
Station IX (Jesus Falls the Third Time)
This landscape can be seen in Station II (Jesus Carries His Cross), Station III (Jesus Falls For the First Time), Station IX (Jesus Falls the Third Time), Station X (Jesus is Stripped of his Garments), Station XI (Jesus is Nailed to the Cross) and Station XIV (Jesus is Laid in the Tomb).
Station X (Jesus is Stripped of his Garments)
Station XI (Jesus is Nailed to the Cross)
There are also references to the Medieval practices of portraying damned souls by means of grotesque features such as elongated noses (redolent of the snouts of swine) of those Roman soldiers and other persons who, without mercy or remorse, contribute to the suffering of Jesus.
Station XII (Jesus Dies on the Cross)
Station XIII (Jesus is Taken Down from the Cross)
These paintings are entirely unique and outstanding in its cultural significance particularly as they are the only such works held in a public collection and kept in perpetual trust for the Filipino people.
Station XIV (Jesus is Laid in the Tomb)
Gallery II – Via Crusis of an Unknown Bohol Master: Friends for Cultural Concerns of the Philippines, Inc. (FCCP) Hall, 2/F, National Museum of Fine Arts (NMFA), Padre Burgos Avenue, Ermita, Manila 1000, Metro Manila. Tel: (632) 8527-1215 and (632) 8298-1100. Email: inquiry@nationalmuseum.gov.ph. Website: nationalmuseum.gov.ph. Open Tuesdays to Sundays, 9 AM – 4PM. Admission is free. Coordinates: 14°35′13″N 120°58′52″E.