A sculpture by José Rizal of Josephine Bracken, titled “Sleeping Josephine”, will be unveiled at the National Museum of Fine Arts on December 30, Rizal Day.
The sculpture — which features Bracken resting with her arms crossed over her chest, her lower half draped in a blanket, lying on a classical Roman-style couch — will be displayed in the museum’s Spoliarium Hall.
“A resting beauty is arriving to captivate your hearts and minds at the National Museum of Fine Arts,” National Museum said in a Facebook post.
The art piece, signed by Rizal, was created during his exile in Dapitan after he met Bracken, the Irish woman who had come to seek his medical help for her adoptive father, George Taufer.
It was previously featured in a 1961 pictorial album published by the José Rizal National Centennial Commission and appeared on the cover of Sunday Times Magazine on June 14, 1970.
In November 2024, “Sleeping Josephine” was sold at auction for P34 million at Leon Gallery’s Kingly Treasures Auction, purchased by an anonymous bidder.