1859 / Oil on canvas / Approximately 77 x 61 cm / Artist: Antonio Malantic / Leandro V. Locsin collection

Technical finesse in capturing elegant textures and the laconic establishment of the sitter’s social preeminence and his honest facial features have made this painting one of the finest examples of male portraiture in the Philippines.

Captured in three-fourths of his figure, Narciso Padilla—lawyer, merchant, shipowner, and regidor of the Royal Audencia—sits venerably, with his left hand on the left shoulder of his four-year-old grandson Felix standing by his side. He was Felix’s maternal grandfather.

Felix grew up to be the multi-awarded painter. Watching the versatile Malantic conjure his likeness on canvas undoubtedly helped influence his early inclination to the arts. The cropped immediate foreground rendition of the two sitters, with their torsos regally vertical, suggests their preeminent position in Manila society. Formality is evoked by the paucity of colors, mainly the black of the suits, the silvery blue-green of the vests and the pink tones of the faces, this last color being echoed in the red edges of the leather-bound book that Felix holds. In contrast, the muted chroma brings out the soft elegance of the pleated chemise, the silken vests and their exquisitely reproduced buttons, Don Narciso’s Isabela Catolica medal, Felix’s embroidered collar and leather-bound volume tooled in gold. Malantic’s sharp draftsmanship rendered the clear lines of the sitters’ faces, while subtle modulation of tones endowed them with a pulsating presence. Fine brushwork, rendering the layered application of the colors, point to Malantic’s academic schooling. Only four signed Malantics, this portrait included, are so far known to be in existence. The rest are the portrait of Soledad Francia, signed and dated 1870, and the portrait of Inocencia Francia, signed and dated 1870, both also in the Leandro V. Locsin collection; and La Divina Pastora, signed and dated 1855, a religious painting in a private collection.