Luna obviously did extensive preparatory research. Anyway, Luna’s masterpiece shows what looks like a present-day Catholic wedding with the bride in white and complete with ring bearers and bridesmaids. I had understood that European upper-class marriages from classical to modern times were often serious dynastic events, less romantic occasions and more like business mergers with vigilantly and lengthily negotiated prenups. The groom waits beyond the atrium, in a grand reception hall. Still in the vestibule are servants bearing a heavy load-a jar filled perhaps with perfume or a dowry of gold coins. Ten bridesmaids remain by the entrance, joyfully tossing flowers. Accompanied by her mother, the bride is midway in the home’s atrium, the central courtyard impressive with fluted columns and floor of gleaming Carrara marble. The bridal party has arrived at the groom’s palatial home. Repatriated from Spain by León Gallery’s Jaime Ponce de León, the painting depicts a bridal procession as it might have occurred 2,000 years ago in ancient Rome. On exhibit at the Ayala Museum is a rediscovered Juan Luna, Hymen, O Hyménée!. HYMEN, O HYMÉNÉE The painting and a detail, the bridesmaids (Leon Gallery).
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