A Versatile Genius
The Many-Sided Man
Thirty-five years were enough for a career in medicine, two novels, a body of verse, a school, a waterworks, and a nation's idea of itself.
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Ophthalmic Surgeon
Trained in Paris under Louis de Wecker and in Heidelberg under Otto Becker; he operated upon his own mother's cataracts.
Novelist
Two novels that gave a colony its political vocabulary.
Poet
From a boyhood verse to the untitled farewell written the night before his death.
Linguist
He read and worked in Spanish, Tagalog, French, German, English, Latin, and a good many more besides.
Historian
He annotated Antonio de Morga's 1609 chronicle to argue for a Filipino civilisation before the galleons.
Ethnographer
He corresponded with European scholars on the peoples and customs of the archipelago.
Sculptor
Clay and wax figures, among them the celebrated pair known as The Triumph of Science over Death.
Painter & Sketcher
Portraits, landscapes, and swift pen studies made in every city he passed through.
Cartographer
Maps of Dapitan and of the archipelago, including a great relief map of Mindanao laid out in the church plaza.
Engineer
The Dapitan waterworks, built with Father Sánchez out of bamboo, clay pipe, and patience.
Educator
A school for boys at Talisay, taught without whip or rote.
Farmer & Botanist
Abacá and coconut lands in Dapitan; a garden of experiment; specimens sent to European museums.
Conchologist
A shell collection admired by naturalists abroad.
Businessman
A partner in the abacá trade during the years of exile.
Fencer & Marksman
An expert swordsman and a good shot, trained in the European salles.
Chess Player
A steady hand against German and Belgian opponents.
Journalist
Essays and polemics for La Solidaridad and the reformist press.
Traveller
Asia, Europe, and America — some twenty cities that shaped his politics.
A Word of Caution
Popular accounts credit Rizal with mastery of two dozen languages and as many professions. Historians treat the longer lists with care: he read far more tongues than he spoke, and several of the "professions" were the accomplishments of an energetic amateur. What is beyond dispute is the range — that one provincial doctor from Laguna could write a novel, carve a figure, draw a map, and lay a pipe to bring water to a town.
Plates of the Many-Sided Man
Manggagamot, iskultor, magsasaka, inhinyero — tingnan ang mga plate.