We found Rizal's first selfie.
And no, it wasn’t taken before the Eiffel Tower, or at the Hotel Inglés in Madrid, or on the streets of Heidelberg. And it isn’t so much a capture as it is the photograph’s solemn kinsman: the wooden likeness.
A wooden bust of Rizal, attributed to the National Hero himself, has just recently resurfaced. The likeness is made of two joined pieces of found wood from the Batikuling tree—a species widely found in Laguna and favored by master artisans from the town of Paete, widely known to be the cradle of woodcarving for centuries.
It is believed that Rizal carved the self-portrait in Calamba during his Christmas break in 1879. Because he was allegedly just eighteen years old when he sculpted the portrait, the bust does not document his moustache. Hewn into the wood is his young, gaunt face, his head angled slightly to the right, in the same attitude and angle in a famous photograph of the young Rizal, who was said to have favored the pose because it softened a jutting chin. His sister Maria once confided to writer Carmen Guerrero-Nakpil that Rizal disguised his imperfections: his uneven shoulders with good tailoring, and his “slightly prognathous” face by presenting his better profile.
Photo of Jose Rizal at 18 years old in 1879—the angle of his face matches the profile we see on the bust.
