PAINTING OF THE MARTYRS
The embodiment of Father Acevedo and the so-called Martyrs of Brazil (Martyrs of Tazacorte among us), has at least, in the Canary Archipelago, three known representations.
These three paintings reflect the moment of the tragic and bloody event that occurred in the waters of La Palma.
The memory of this martyrdom came to be erased over time, as Father Alonso de Andrade narrated, on a mission to the Canary Islands between 1631 and 1633. At that time, only a few elders had news of the matter. It was then decided to capture on canvas the heroic and holy gesture of the Jesuits.
Father Acevedo is painted, captaining the group of missionaries, with the image of the Virgin in his hand, "like a leader." In the church of El Salvador there is one of them made by Juan Manuel de Silva, in the Museum of Sacred Art of Las Palmas another one by an anonymous author is preserved and in the church of San Miguel Arcángel there is the third one, this canvas is contemporary to that of El Salvador. It has a more extensive text than the previous ones: “When Father Friar Ignacio de Acevedo left with 39 companions to preach the faith and suffer martyrdom for it, they arrived at this place in Tazacorte, and Father Friar Ignasio had jumped ashore, he performed mass and gave the sacred Eucharist, re-framed and in front of the tip of Nabio of French Huguenots they were martyred by them, in July Scholars in this matter have correctly stated that both the fabric of Gran Canaria and the two palm trees seem to "correspond to the same period, that is, the early eighteenth century.
We can infer that one of them imitates the other two, or that the three representations emulate, mimic a previous painting, perhaps that original one placed in the temple of the Saviour.
