Wrong City

The frontispiece of the August/September 1986 issue shows a painting of Edward Delano’s name with a reference to “clusters of Chinese figures set against Macao’s harbor.” But the walled city in the background with Spanish flags flying prominently over it is Manila, the figures forming the letters of the family name, Delano, are Filipinos in mid-nineteenth-century dress, and the painter, whose name appears in the lower left-hand corner, is the Filipino José Honorato Lozano. The human figures forming the name Edward are Chinese, who were important in the commerce and crafts of Spanish Manila. The painting is similar to the two Lozanos in the Peabody Museum of Salem, Massachusetts.

The author’s reply: Mr. Legarda is right. Ned Delano visited Manila several times; perhaps it was on one of these visits that he had this picture painted and another to match it, built around his mother’s name, Catherine Delano.