Temporary exhibition

Dialogue with Juan de Miranda

Homage on the tercentenary of his birth
24 de marzo – 13 de mayo

 

Nowadays recognized as the most outstanding Canarian painter of the second half of the 18th century,
Juan de Miranda [Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 1723 – Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 1805] moved to La Laguna when he was still young. Juan de Miranda [Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 1723 – Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 1805] moved to La Laguna when he was still young, where he painted his first compositions. A very substantial part of his production, both in public and private collections, remained in the city and, in general, on the island of Tenerife.

One of the aspects that underline the importance of Miranda in the artistic panorama of the Canary Islands -although he also developed part of his career in several places of the Peninsula-, lies in the fact that his work reflects, like few others, the gradual passage and the coexistence in the islands of the models and tastes of the Baroque (which have perhaps their best example in Cristóbal Hernández de Quintana), towards the new look proposed since the mid-18th century by the Enlightenment and neoclassicism, with a more intellectual slant and in which the understanding of art as an exercise of reinterpretation, but also as a creative gesture, begins to function in an evident way.

Dialogue with Juan de Miranda approaches some of the usual themes of the painter and his models of representation, but also the imprint that his work generated in the insular artistic environment. It also serves as a presentation to the public of what is the most recent addition to the LM Arte Colección’s holdings: La lapidación de san Esteban, a magnificent piece that has been restored for the occasion and in which a good part of the inheritance, but also of the searches and artistic approaches of Juan de Miranda are reflected.

Eliseo G. Izquierdo