La Ilustracin Filipina was a Spanish language newspaper published in Manila, Philippines, that

ran during the last decade of the Spanish colonial era, and at times during the Philippine Revolution
and the beginning of the 20th century under U.S. rule.

It was an illustrated weekly newspaper that covered a wide array of social related topics both local
and international. Many personalities at the time, both Spanish and Filipinos, contributed articles and
pictures, although the newspaper also published anonymous articles that in some cases raised a
great deal of controversy.

History
La Ilustracin Filipina published its first issue on November 7, 1891, made of eight pages and a four-
page cover, in two columns in cuarto.

La Ilustracin Filipina must not be confused with Ilustracin Filipina, a highly regarded illustrated
magazine also published in the Philippines during the period between March 1, 1859 and December
15, 1860. This similarity of titles was not accompanied by a correlation in written contents, graphic
design and printing quality, which prompted Wenceslao Retana to point out the "responsibility" that
had fallen upon founder Zaragoza, who had dare to "resurrect" the name of a very prestigious
magazine in spite of knowing beforehand that he could never be able to surpass the level of quality
achieved by its predecessor.

Notable contributors

From 1891 to 1895 it was partly edited by Miguel Zaragoza, painter, writer and teacher, who is
considered to be one of the first Filipinos to publish a book of poems written in Spanish,and during
the Philippine Revolution became one of the editors of the Malolos Constitution.During the years that
he acted as the editor of the newspaper, Zaragoza also contributed many writings and drawings, and
openly gave preference to the works of native Filipino writers and artists, such as Juan Luna, Fabian
de la Rosa, Rafael Enriquez and Torribio Herrera.

Juan Luna, Filipino painter, sculptor and political activist during the Philippine Revolution, was
featured on the July 28, 1892 cover of the La Ilustracin in spite of having maintained a strong
rivalry with Zaragoza. He contributed many illustrations and writings in successive editions, among
them one of the most famous cover pages of the Ilustracin showing a young Filipina seated next to
a basket of books and some little girls reading, with Mayon Volcano in the background.

Simon Flores y de la Rosa, another renowned Filipino painter, contributed a self-portrait in charcoal
that was used in an article about him.

Iigo Regalado y Corcuera, a famous printer and Tagalog poet was the head printer of the
newspaper during 1890.

References

1. Jump up^ Wenceslao Retana, Emilio (1895). El periodismo filipino: Noticias para su historia
(1811-1894) Apuntes bibliogrficos, indicaciones biogrficas, notas crticas, semblanzas, ancdotas.
Madrid: Viuda de M. Minuesa de los Ros. p. 72.
2. Jump up^ Garca-Castelln, Manuel (2008). "Miguel Zaragoza, el primer poeta hispano-
filipino". Revista Filipina. Retrieved June 4, 2011.

3. Jump up^ National Historical Institute (Philippines) (1997). Documents on the 1898
Declaration of Philippine Independence, the Malolos Constitution and the first Philippine Republic.
National Historical Institute,