By Faith

One of the key impacts on our country’s art form is the Catholic influence brought to us 500 years ago. We look back at how religious art in the Philippines was born and how it continues to shape the local art scene to this day

- Franz Sorilla IV

Religious art has been one of the most effective tools by propagators of any faith, such as the Catholics. Through paintings, sculptures, metalworks and architecture, the scenes from the Bible and other dogmatic teachings of the Church were introduced and engraved into the consciousness of the catechised people. It is no wonder then that the Filipino artists learnt to master the visual arts from the Spanish friars, espousing European standards of sublimity for such creative form.

The Museo de Intramuros, built on the old site of the San Ignacio Church and convent, takes care of preserved and curated pieces of religious art from different parts of the country for the public to appreciate. Giving a glimpse of the devotion of the Filipino people to the Catholic faith, the artefacts date back to the early 18th century, with some perhaps older. Dino Carlo Santos from the museum’s Cultural Properties Conservation Division explains why, apart from the Catholic faith, we also owe our formalised art form to the Spaniards.