Fashions of the Philippines c. 1840
A series of paintings showing typical people and their clothing of the Philippines in the 1840s.
The 1830s saw many changes in the Philippines. Most notably, they included Manila’s opening to the wider world. While still a Spanish colony, the Philippines now welcomed merchants from around the world at its bustling ports. The growth of trade, especially through the sugar industry, brought new wealth to the Philippines and its people, though it was not evenly distributed. Immigrants from places such as China and the Americas found new economic opportunities in the Philippines, leading to a diverse and increasingly prosperous community that still mainly consisted of indigenous Filipino people.
In addition to new trade, new cultures, and new ideas, the Philippines at this time also saw a flourishing of the arts. One of its most prominent painters of the era was Justiniano Asunción (1816 - 1901). Among his surviving works are these portraits of some typical people of the Philippines and their apparel. They offer us a peek into the Philippines of long ago, a colony that had already weathered multiple regime changes, revolts, and major social upheavals. His paintings are a reminder that even as the broad sweep of history moves forward, its narratives are made from the stories of individual people in all their diversity.
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