In the towns of the colonial Philippines, a man who had completed his term as gobernadorcillo retained the honorary title of capitan pasado, or past captain. The title carried lasting social standing within the principalía, the local elite that governed town affairs under Spanish rule.
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 Capitan Pasado depicts the former town official in the formal dress that signaled his standing, recording the social hierarchy of 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 native elite who held local authority within Spanish colonial society.
Available as a fine art print
→ View print here
