Félix Resurrección Hidalgo's El Asesinato del Gobernador Bustamante Pro Club Inspired Tee

(The Assassination of Governor Fernando Bustamante and Son) aka La Tragedia de Gobernador Fernando Bustamante (The Tragedy of Governor Fernando Bustamante) or La Iglesia contra el Estado (Church versus State) / Late 19th century / Oil on canvas / 412 x 338 cm / Artist: Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo / National Museum of the Philippines collection.

This large work by Resurreccion Hidalgo portrays a factual event: the assassination of Gov-Gen Fernando Bustamante y Bustillo in 1719 by a mob led by friars whose economic activities were threatened by his policies. The setting is the old Palacio del Gobernador in Intramuros. The scene shows the governor-general near the top center of a landing of the grand marble stairway being simultaneously attacked with spears and bolo by a group of Dominicans in black and white robes and Franciscans in their brown habiliments, while another group of the same friars pulls him down with a rope tied around his body. While the murder is being committed, other friars and sacristans hold aloft colorful religious banners and crucifixes from their procession after mass. Below left, members of the king’s guards threaten the monks with spears to no avail.