(Lovers’ Quarrel) / 1895 / Oil on canvas / 50.5 x 68 cm / Artist: Juan Luna / Private collection

This painting is a rare work of Luna because it does not fall under the usual categories of his work: the academic paintings like Spoliarium, the formal portraits, the character sketches, and the European figure paintings of impressionist influence.

This important painting figures in a Philippine setting and has a richer detail of environment and costume than his other works. The interior of the bahay na bato (house of stone), the typical 19th-century mansion of the ilustrado (educated), is given importance as setting here. Vividly captured is the structural interaction between indoors and outdoors, which is its significant feature: the ventanillas or small windows under the window sill and the openwork wood carving that create designs of figure and space while they function in the circulation of air, and the capiz windows that filter the sunlight into the room. The broad shiny floors and the furnishings, such as the Vienna chairs, capture the bahay-na-bato ambience.

This is a setting for the fine ilustrado couple dressed for a fiesta, as indicated by the banner hanging from the window of the opposite house—as was the custom in those days—and by the procession in the street below. All is not well, however, for in this masterpiece of body language, the two are having a little spat. The man peevishly looks out of the window, his elbow and legs forming angles, while the woman, in an elegant maria clara dress, looks away, facing the interior with downcast eyes; the figures of the two are in contrapuntal position.