Oblation (statue)
Palma requested that the statue would be based on the second verse of Rizal's Mi Ultimo Adios: In fields of battle, deliriously fighting, Others give you their lives, without doubt, without regret; Where there’s cypress, laurel or lily, On a plank or open field, in combat or cruel martyrdom, If the home or country asks, it's all the same--it matters not.The concrete sculpture, painted to look like bronze, measures 3.5 meters in height, symbolizing the 333 years of Spanish rule in the Philippines.
[1] The sculpture is replete with references to selfless dedication and service to the nation, and as Tolentino himself describes it,[2] The completely nude figure of a young man with outstretched arms and open hands, with tilted head, closed eyes and parted lips murmuring a prayer, with breast forward in the act of offering himself, is my interpretation of that sublime stanza.
The statue stands on a rustic base, a stylized rugged shape of the Philippine archipelago, lined with big and small hard rocks, each of which represents an island.
[3] The sculpture in front of the Quezon Hall at UP Diliman was installed facing west, purportedly a tribute to the American roots of the university.
Today, that sculpture is only a bronze replica (which was recast from the original in Italy in 1950,[4] under the supervision of Tolentino himself) dedicated during the Golden Jubilee of U.P.
The Oblation at the University of the Philippines Visayas campus in Iloilo City was made by Professor Anastacio Caedo.
Likewise, 2005 National Artist-nominee Glenn Bautista did his celebrated version of the Oblation[5] in pen and ink as part of his schoolplates at the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts under Professor Rebillon.
Being the main symbol of the university, the Oblation is the centrepiece of many U.P.-related logos, like those of the Philippine Collegian and other official student publications, the U.P.
His works now form part of the University Collection,[7] and one of his monuments of Jose Rizal for the German government was installed in an eponymous Park in Wilhelmsfeld, Germany.
Other names that have said to pose for the sculpture include a friend of Tolentino, Ferdinand Glenn Gagarin and fireman June Villanueva.
Members of the fraternity run around the campus naked (a concept known as streaking) to protest their sentiments about a current political or economic situation.
