Cockfighting, or sabong, was among the most popular pastimes in the colonial Philippines, drawing crowds and wagers in the cockpit, or gallera. The Spanish administration regulated and taxed the practice, making it both a cultural institution and a source of colonial revenue.
José Honorato Lozano documented this scene as part of his Tipos del País watercolors, a body of work produced in the mid-nineteenth century recording the customs, pastimes, and daily life of Philippine society. The Interior de la gallera depicts the inside of a cockpit during a match, recording a central social activity 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 cockpit interior and its place in colonial Philippine social life.
Available as a fine art print
→ View print here
