09 Works, Today, April 29th. is artist Pedro Américo's day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #118

Pedro Américo  (1843–1905)

Batalha de Campo Grande/ Battle of Campo Grande, c. 1871

Oil on canvas

Height: 332 cm (10.8 ft); Width: 530 cm (17.3 ft)

Imperial Museum of Brazil

The Battle of Acosta Ñu or Campo Grande was a battle during the Paraguayan War, fought on August 16, 1869, between the Triple Alliance and Paraguay. The 3,500 poorly armed Paraguayans, mostly boys between nine and 15 years old, many wearing false beards, old men and wounded combatants, confronted 20,000 Brazilian veteran soldiers.

The Allied troops met the rearguard of the Paraguayan forces at Acosta Ñu on August 16. The battle started at 0800. The initial charge was led by the Allied 1st Corps infantry, supported by artillery. As the Paraguayans retreated across the Yagari River, the 4th Cavalry Brigade made a right flanking movement. Meanwhile, the 2nd Corps reached the Paraguayan rear, which left them no means to retreat. Children were said to cling to the legs of Brazilian soldiers amidst the raging battle, pleading for mercy, only to be decapitated without hesitation. Once all flanks collapsed, the wounded children tried to flee the battlefield alongside their relatives. Yet the Brazilian commander ordered his cavalry to cut the retreat and set the battlefield ablaze, including the field hospital. Large numbers of children died because of these actions. More on this painting

Pedro Américo de Figueiredo e Melo (29 April 1843 – 7 October 1905) was a Brazilian novelist, poet, scientist, art theorist, essayist, philosopher, politician and professor, but is best remembered as one of the most important academic painters of Brazil.

Pedro Américo  (1843–1905)

Joana d’Arc, c. 1883

Oil on canvas

229 x 156

Museu Nacional de Belas Artes

The composition Joana D'Arc is a historical work by the Brazilian artist Pedro Américo, based on the life of the French heroine of the same name, at the time when she, at the age of 13, thought she heard the voice of God, summoning her to fight in defense of the French sovereign. More on this painting

Pedro Américo  (1843–1905)

Davi e Abisag/ David and Abishag, c. 1879

Oil on canvas

Height: 172 cm (67.7 in); Width: 216 cm (85 in)

Museu Nacional de Belas Artes 

Abishag was a beautiful person of Shunem, who, when brought to David, was a na'arah, which indicates youth and/or virginity, but not necessarily both. According to the Hebrew Bible, she was chosen to be a helper and servant to King David in his old age. Among Abishag's duties was to lie next to David and pass along her animal heat and vigor, while not having sex with him. More on Abisag

Pedro Américo  (1843–1905)

Judith and Holofernes, c. 1880

Oil on canvas

Height: 229 cm (90.1 in); Width: 141.7 cm (55.7 in)

Museu Nacional de Belas Artes

The Book of Judith is the Old Testament of the Bible. The story revolves around Judith, a daring and beautiful widow, who is upset with her Jewish countrymen for not trusting God to deliver them from their foreign conquerors. She goes with her loyal maid to the camp of the enemy general, Holofernes, with whom she slowly ingratiates herself, promising him information on the Israelites. Gaining his trust, she is allowed access to his tent one night as he lies in a drunken stupor. She decapitates him, then takes his head back to her fearful countrymen. The Assyrians, having lost their leader, disperse, and Israel is saved. Though she is courted by many, Judith remains unmarried for the rest of her life. More on The Book of Judith

Pedro Américo  (1843–1905)

Moisés e Jocabed/ Moses and Jochebed, c. 1884

Oil on canvas

Height: 151.0 cm; Width: 105.0 cm

Museu Nacional de Belas Artes

According to the Bible, Jochebed was the mother Moses.

The Pharaoh had decreed that all their baby boys were to be thrown into the Nile, because he feared that they might become too powerful. When Moses, her youngest child, was born, Jochebed hid him for three months until she could hide him no longer. To save her son's life, she waterproofed a basket and put the child in it. Jochebed placed Moses in a basket and released him in the flow of River Nile. More on Jochebed

He moved to Rio de Janeiro in 1854, where he was granted a scholarship to study in the Academia Imperial de Belas Artes, Imperial Academy of Fine Arts. Later he furthered his studies in Europe, at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, being a pupil of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Hippolyte Flandrin and Carle-Horace Vernet, winning much praise for his paintings, and achieving the Doctorate in Sciences at the University of Brussels, in 1868.

Pedro Américo

Independência ou Morte/ Independence or Death, c. 1888

Oil on canvas

Height: 415 cm (13.6 ft); Width: 760 cm (24.9 ft)

Museu Paulista collection 

At Ipiranga on September 7 1822, the Portuguese crown prince was given the letters of the Cortes, in which all of his measures were annulled and his ministers were declared to be traitors. On foot of this, he broke with Portugal and effected the final separation of Brazil from Portugal with the cry "Independência ou Morte!"("independence or death"). This painting by Pedro Américo, which only came into being decades later in Florence in Italy, depicts the prince with his troops at the decisive moment of the "Cry of Ipiranga". His guard of honour pledges its support; some of the soldiers rip the white-and-blue ribbons, which had symbolized their loyalty to Portugal, from their arms. On December 1 1822, Crown Prince Peter of Portugal became Emperor Peter I of Brazil. More on this painting

Pedro Américo  (1843–1905)

The Liberation of Slaves, c. 1889

Oil on canvas

Height: 138.5 cm (54.5 in); Width: 199 cm (78.3 in)

Collection

Governmental Palaces of the State of São Paulo

Slavery in Brazil began long before the first Portuguese settlement was established in 1516, with members of one tribe enslaving captured members of another. Later, colonists were heavily dependent on indigenous labor during the initial phases of settlement to maintain the subsistence economy.

Brazil was the last country in the Western world to abolish the enslavement of human beings. By the time slavery was abolished, on May 13, 1888, an estimated 5.8 million enslaved people had been kidnapped from Africa to Brazil. This was 40% of the total number of enslaved people trafficked from Africa to the Americas, according to one estimate. More on Slavery in Brazil

Returning to Brazil, he produced one of the most well known works of art in Brazil: Independence or Death!, depicting the moment when Prince Peter declared the country independent from Portugal, a work that has illustrated History books for elementary schools in Brazil for decades.

Pedro Américo  (1843–1905)

A Noite e os Gênios do Estudo e do Amor/ The Night with the Genii of Study and Love, c. 1886

Oil on canvas

Height: 260 cm (102.3 in); Width: 195 cm (76.7 in)

Museu Nacional de Belas Artes 

Living mostly in Florence, Italy but traveling extensively back and forth from Rio de Janeiro, Pedro Américo managed to work also as a lecturer and an art historian.

Pedro Américo  (1843–1905)

Charon crossing the Aqueronte, c. 1882

Oil on canvas

Height: 48.0 cm; Width: 66.5 cm

Private collection

Character of classical mythology, son of the Erebus and of the night, ferryman of the souls of the dead across the river of Hades Acheron. Virgil describes him in book VI of the Aeneid, during the descent into the Underworld of Aeneas: he is an old man with a squalid appearance, who makes the souls of the dead get on his boat but leaves the unburied on the shore, like Palinuro. More on this painting

He married Carlota de Araújo Porto-alegre (1844–1918), daughter of painter and diplomat Manuel de Araújo Porto-alegre. Knighted by the German Crown he was also Great Knight of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre. With the proclamation of the Republic in Brazil in 1889, he was elected a deputy of the National Assembly. More on Pedro Américo

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