1865 / Oil on canvas / 223 x 168 cm / Artist: Severino Flavier Pablo / Archiepiscopal Palace, Vigan, Ilocos Sur

This full-figure portrait of a bishop is typical of the portrait genre showing prelate holding his biretta. On a table by his side are his mitre and gloves. Behind the table is the episcopal crosier.

Painted in fine miniaturistic technique, all details—the embroidery on the surplice and the intricate patterns on the mitre and the crosier—were rendered realistically. Pablo so excelled in painting palpable flesh and in capturing both the likeness and psychology of his sitters that he became the official portraitist of Augustinian bishops. The vivid-red table mantle and the deep-green background relieve the predominantly gray and black painting.

The oval escutcheon at the bottom right contains biographical details of Bishop Aragones. He arrived in Manila in 1845, built the convento (parish house) of Oslob, Cebu, and urbanized the town. He was consecrated Bishop of Nueva Segovia in 1864, receiving his consistorial promotion on 25 Mar 1865. At least five portraits of individuals signed by Pablo are still in existence.