Painter · 1723-1805
Painter
Juan Ventura de Miranda Cejas y Guerra was a painter born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in 1723 and deceased in Santa Cruz de Tenerife in 1805. His religious work holds a prominent place in 18th-century Canarian art.
The exhibition Juan de Miranda lo pintó, organised by the Government of the Canary Islands for the tercentenary of his birth, follows his production from the early years to the final period, when he received commissions from the aristocracy and the Church. The exhibition brought together more than eighty works in Tenerife after its initial presentation at Madrid's Museo Lázaro Galdiano.
His work is related to Canarian late Baroque and changing tastes of the Enlightenment. Works preserved in cathedrals, parishes and museums document extensive religious production without reducing it to a single iconographic model. Among the pieces linked to the Cathedral of the Canary Islands is San Sebastián, commissioned by the cathedral chapter during his 1797 visit to Gran Canaria.
The presence of his paintings in the Municipal Fine Arts Museum of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the Cathedral of the Canary Islands and other public collections explains their continued place in the archipelago's artistic heritage. The 2023 and 2024 commemorations have supported a review of his catalogue, journeys and relations with Baroque and Enlightenment art.
