1659-97 / Illuminations / Oil on tempera / 9 sq cm / Attributed to Fray Marcelo de San Agustin / San Agustin Church Museum complex collection

A choir book with pages of vellum, measuring approximately 0.91 m high, written in ink and water-based tempera or gouache, it contains three illuminations: the Christ Child, the Holy Family, and the Agony in the Garden, each approximately 0.09 sq m each. Found in the hall which was formerly the anteroom of the large vestry of the San Agustin Church Museum complex, this artifact is generally accepted to be the work of Fray Marcelo de San Agustin. Fray Marcelo was an indio (Christianized native) from Malate, originally named Marcelo Banal. The Augustinian historian Gaspar de San Agustin recorded that Fray Marcelo was a devout brother who composed motets and inscribed choir books, including those used by the monks in the convent.

The three paintings are actually illuminations of the capital letters of certain verses: “O,” “I,” and “E.” The “O” is striking for its exotic inspiration. At first glance it seems to be a profusely carved and painted Solomonic column twisted to form the letter, but a closer examination at the top curve reveals this twisted form to be a dragon trying to reach its tail. The three-dimensional effect of the letter was achieved with cross-hatchings in ink. Inside the “O” the Christ Child is depicted in the convention of a newborn babe in a nativity scene, wrapped in swaddling clothes. Typical of 17th-century Filipino painting and reflective of the novice state of the art in the country, the “O” shows the painter’s obsession with animating elements, such as the hand in blessing and the sharply rendered features of the infant, like his widely alert eyes and parted mouth; all these are done as if to compensate for the tentative skills of the painter.

Emphatic gestures are similarly observed in the Holy Family, which adorns the letter “I.” San Jose’s right hand is dramatically placed on his chest. While the “I” is actually a round column on whose center is depicted the boy Jesus amidst red colors, the “E” was achieved through an intricate crisscrossing of curved lines.

The scene beside the letter “E” shows Christ’s meditation in the Garden of Gethsemane. Instead of Christ’s conventional leaning position, his figure, although kneeling, is drawn backward as if startled by the angel who appears above him. Praying with upraised hands was a practice in the early church, and these scenes might have been influenced by an artwork showing an early Christian orant or praying figure.