Dr. Nicanor Reyes Sr. (1940)

That great wit Oscar Wilde wrote: “Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter.”

That paradoxical statement should find its truth in the numerous portraits done by Fernando Amorsolo, incontrovertibly the country’s most prominent portraitist. It was Amorsolo’s name that was instantaneously considered by Philippine presidents and statesmen and the business and social movers of the land when considering a portrait commission. Thus, he held the distinction of being Philippine high society’s one and only portraitist of choice.
And true enough, based on Oscar Wilde’s startling insight, we, the viewer of these portraits, first think
of Amorsolo even before we recognize the face of a National Hero or a distinguished personage whose image we see on the canvas.