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Damián Domingo was a self-taught master artist from Tondo whose skilled hand and distinctly Philippine style made him a highly sought-after painter of official portraits and religious tableaus. His albums of colorful tipos del país immortalized the diverse costumes and lifestyles of early nineteenth-century Philippines. It was this expertise and acclaim that led to a trailblazing career as an art teacher and director of the first Philippine art academy. By making painting a subject for formal study, Domingo managed to elevate its status as an art form in the Philippines, thus raising the esteem and respect accorded to Filipino painters. It was perhaps appropriate to his catalytic role in this stage of Philippine art history that Domingo also painted the earliest known self-portrait by a Filipino artist.

This lushly illustrated book explores the artist’s life and historical milieu through meticulous and engaging scholarship. His surviving masterpieces, including his rediscovered self-portrait, are reproduced in pristine detail, along with selected works from his contemporaries and successors in the art world. These artistic elements are arranged into a vivid portrait of a man who laid the foundations of Western art in the Philippines.