Colorized photos of Filipina beauties in the late 19th century and early 20th century

Colorized photo of a Filipina wearing the Baro’t Saya - the traditional dress worn by women during and after the Spanish colonization in the Philippines

 Colorized a vintage photo of a Chinese  Filipina,ca. 1870, possibly taken by the Dutch photographer Francisco van camp who pioneered in Philippines portrait photography for rich pesonages during the Spanish period int he Philippines.

Colorized portrait of a young Tagalog woman, Philippines, 1901 from the National Anrtrhopological Archives, Smithsonian Institute.

Niña Mestiza China, siglo XIX, Colorized vintage portrait of a Filipina-Chinese, ca 1890s

Another colorized vintage portrait of a Filipina, This time a Chinese-Filipina, taken by Francisco van Camp, ca 1890s. Entitled Niña Mestiza China, siglo XIX, this was downloaded from Flikr and is is part of the photographic archives of the Museo National de Antropologia, Madrid Spain. No story behind the photo, other than the fact that the subject was relatively fair-skinned wearing the traditional baro't saya that have become standard wear for women being photographed in studios from the 1840s to the early 1900s.

Dutch Photographer Francis van Camp is considered one of the pioneers of Phillipine Photography at around the time that national historic artist Juan Luna took up the hobby in Europe under the mentorship of various European photographers.

It's interesting to note that the Dutch actually attempted to colonize the Philippines and wrest it from Spain in 1646, during the 80 Years' War in Europe (1568 to 1648) but failed in the spectacular series of see battles of La Naval de Manila (148 - 1652) attributed to the intercession of the Virgin Mary in a war that was essentially between Catholic Spain/Philippines and Dutch Protestants 

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Doncella India, Philippines girl with Indian blood ca 1870/80

Colorized a vintage photo of a young Filipina taken ca 1870-80 from the Biblioteca Nacional de España where its Hispanic Digital Library contains the Philippine Album Publication,with 17 portraits and 43 views of Manila and surroundings. Not much story behind the photo but it has excellent photo resolution that makes it a joy to colorize.

The photo is entitled Doncella India, which transliterates to Indian Maid but depicts a Filipina. This young girl could have Indian blood. It is a well known fact that in 1762 the British invaded Manila and had control of the city for several years. They brought with them many Indian soldiers or Sepoys (Indian infantryman employed by the armies of the British East India Company from 1700 to 1857) who didn’t want to fight so they ran off to the hills east of Manila and hid out until the British left Manila. That is one reason why there is a lot of Indian blood in Filipinos even until today.

There have been comments on this picture that the young girl is dressed indecent for the period, considering that the women of the time wore the Philippine traditional baro't saya when photographed in a studio. There is no known history behind the photo and it is possible for young ladies (teenagers) at the time to dress less formally given the tropic clime.