Some paintings have provenance. Others have a story.
These two quietly compelling paintings of Marawi, to be offered at Salcedo Auctions’ The Well-Appointed Life auction this Saturday, 12 September, have something considerably more intriguing: they once belonged to the man who governed the Philippines in one of the most pivotal moments in its colonial history.
Rare paintings by José Taviel de Andrade, Rizal’s military escort, depicting Marawi scenery in 1896: Vista del puente Alfonso XIII sobre el río Agus, Marawi and Vista del fuerte nuevo de Marawi.
Painted in 1896 by José Taviel de Andrade, Vista del Fuerte Nuevo de Marawi and Vista del puente Alfonso XIII sobre el río Agus, Marawi depict two landmarks associated with the Spanish military campaign in Mindanao.
Their provenance is traced to Don Ramón Blanco y Erenas, Marquis of Peña Plata, governor-general of the Philippines from 1893 to 1896, and eventually to a private collection in Madrid.
It is difficult to imagine a more evocative provenance.
Only a year earlier, in 1895, the Spanish campaign in Marahui—present-day Marawi—had culminated in the capture of Fuerte Nuevo and the reconstruction of the bridge of Alfonso XIII. The bridge was inaugurated on 27 February 1895. Taviel de Andrade painted both sites the following year, preserving them not as grand historical tableaux, but as intimate, almost deceptively tranquil views of a landscape at a pivotal moment.
Then there is the extraordinary life of the artist.
Taviel de Andrade was a Spanish military officer who arrived in the Philippines at just 22 years old. He served in Manila, the Visayas and Jolo, while cultivating a parallel life as an artist. Between 1887 and 1888, he was assigned to keep watch on Dr. José Rizal, placing him in remarkable proximity to the man who would become the Philippines’ National Hero. From 1892 to 1894, he taught at Manila’s Escuela Superior de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado, and remained in the Philippines until 1897.
Here was a soldier who became an artist, documenting the country in which he had spent nearly two decades.
And here, remarkably, were two of his paintings of Marawi in the collection of the Governor-General under whose administration the military campaign had taken place.
A portrait of artist and military escort Jose Taviel de Andrade
Blanco’s own story adds a fascinating dimension. His comparatively conciliatory approach toward Filipino reformists became increasingly controversial as tensions mounted in the colony. Recalled from the Philippines in 1896, he was regarded by some in Spain as having been too sympathetic to the Philippine cause. His tenure thus occupies a distinctive place in the final years of Spanish rule: that of a Governor-General whose approach was notably more measured at a time when the colonial order was beginning to fracture.
Seen through this lens, the paintings become more than historical views. They are a witness to a moment in the Philippines—when Spanish authority was still in place, yet the forces that would transform the country were already gathering. Their provenance connects them directly to the highest levels of the colonial administration, while their artist’s unusual life places them in proximity to both the military establishment and the emerging Filipino intellectual world.
Their journey continued to Madrid, where they remained in private hands before reappearing at Salcedo Auctions’ The Well-Appointed Life.
Today, their appeal is both aesthetic and historical.
They are rare, atmospheric glimpses of 19th century Marawi. But they are also something more elusive: paintings through which people, places and national histories converge.
A colourised view of the Puente de Alfonso XIII in Pantar, Lanao del Sur, which was built during the tenure of Governor General Blanco
View Catalogue and Register to Bid through the following links:
Morning Online Sale (starts at 10AM) https://members.salcedoauctions.com/auction/twal_12sep2026_10am
Afternoon Live & Online Sale (starts 2PM) https://members.salcedoauctions.com/auction/twal_12sep2026_2pm;
Browse the full E-Catalogue here https://publuu.com/flip-book/517524/2601310.
Preview is open to the public from September 3 to September 12, 9am-6pm daily (except Monday) at Salcedo Auctions, NEX Tower, 6786 Ayala Ave., Makati City. For inquiries, contact info@salcedoauctions.com or phone/SMS +63 917 894 6550. Follow @salcedoauctins on IG amd FB
