(Partial View of Angono and Laguna Bay) / Ca 1880s / Oil on canvas / 121 x 185 cm / Artist: Juan Senson / Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Collection

This mural by a resident of Angono, then a quiet fishing and farming village, shows a partial view of the place and the adjacent Laguna de Bay. At top left is a slice of the lake in this semi-aerial vista. At left near center are four vessels aligned in the water, while a canoe oblique to their orientation provides a sense of movement. A mountain, apparently low in elevation, lies serenely in the horizon.

The rest of the painting shows the town’s main road forking out into three directions. At lower left, below the lake, are portions of an irrigated farm where people are engaged in various activities. Where the main road forks out is a triangular island of grass. At top right is a partial view of the residential area suggested by a bamboo grove, other trees, and nipa houses fenced with bamboo poles—all rendered meticulously to the smallest detail. In the left foreground stands a woman in native costume, with her back turned to the viewer. Her figure reinforces the sense of balance in this subtly symmetrical composition. On the sky at top left are a pair hawks, one with a snake dangling from its beak.

Senson is better known today as a vital influence on Carlos V. Francisco aka Botong Francisco, a younger town mate, who as a young boy, watched Senson mixing colors. Senson exhibited this landscape at the Exposicion Regional de Filipinas in 1895. The piece is listed in the catalogue of the exposition in its original Spanish title, exactly as Senson titled it in the bottom right portion of the painting.