Battle of Zapote
signed and dated 1901 (lower left)
oil on canvas
13” x 19” (33 cm x 48 cm)

Provenance:
Private Collection, Manila

This piece is accompanied by a letter issued by Mr. Jose Pineda, eldest grandchild of the artist, confirming the authenticity of the lot.

Jorge Pineda was a witness to two wars way before World War 2 came, and ‘The Battle of Zapote’ is proof.

In the first 20 or 21 years of his life, Jorge Pineda lived through the last quarter of the 19th century, thus including the years of the Philippine Revolution against Spain. Later, Pineda studied at the Academia de Dibujo y Pintura just before the outbreak of the Philippine American war.

Revolts or wars came and went, yet, in the words of Emmanuel Torres in 1975: “Pineda prepared long and hard to master the craft of drawing and oil painting, studying in the old Academia before the Philippine Revolution, and then again under private mentors after the Philippine-American War, and much later enrolling for life studies at Teodoro Buenaventura’s school of drawing in Magdalena Street, Trozo.

As in many of Pineda’s other works, it was Pineda’s interest in genre to portray a mood of concentration, suggesting the spiritwithin, as much as figures in action.

As a painter, Pineda was a peer to Fernando Amorsolo, yet he explored subjects outside those of the Amorsolo School. Pinedawas considered the leading illustrator of his time.

The interplay of figures is a characteristic of Pineda’s works, as well as the psychological interest in people absorbed in theiractivity.