The administration of colonial Philippine towns depended on minor local officers who carried out the orders of the gobernadorcillo. The alguacil de pueblo, or town constable, was responsible for enforcing local order, serving summons, and assisting in the daily governance of the community.
José Honorato Lozano documented this figure as part of his watercolor illustrations of Philippine social life, a body of work produced in the mid-nineteenth century that parallels the tipos del país tradition in its attention to costume, occupation, and social type. The Alguacil de Pueblo depicts the town constable in the dress of his office, recording a figure of local authority within the colonial town. Lozano worked primarily in Manila and produced illustrations that served as visual records of Philippine society for both local and foreign audiences. His work is considered among the most detailed and culturally specific visual documentation of the Philippines in the Spanish colonial period.
This print preserves a record of the local officers who maintained order in colonial Philippine towns.
Available as a fine art print
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