Fernando Miranda y Casellas

He was born in Valencia, Spain, the son of an illustrator of the same name, and studied under sculptor José Piquer II.

In 1878, he designed a 30-foot monument honoring Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes to be erected in Central Park.

[2] The project was eventually abandoned due to lack of funding, but Miranda's Bust of Cervantes stood in the park for more than a quarter-century.

[4] Instead of an original work by Miranda, Central Park commissioned a copy of sculptor Jeronimo Suñol's Columbus statue in Madrid, which was dedicated in 1894.

Following the Boston Public Library's notorious 1896 rejection of Frederick William MacMonnies's nude sculpture Bacchante and Infant Faun, Miranda prepared a replacement work for the courtyard's fountain.

Fernando Miranda in his studio with his model of The Spirit of Research (c. 1897). His Bust of Columbus is at far right.