page_title: Victor Meirelles
section_title: Major projects
hierarchical_section_title: Victor Meirelles / Biography / Major projects
context_page_description: Victor Meirelles de Lima was a Brazilian painter who is best known for his works relating to his nation's culture and history.
context_section_description: In 1879, his gigantic painting of the Second Battle of Guararapes was displayed at the Imperial Academy, alongside a painting by Pedro Américo, depicting the Battle of Avay. Meirelles and Américo had already been at odds with one another over an earlier commission so, immediately, critics began to notice similar details and accuse Meirelles of plagiarism. The controversy raged in the local press for months but, apparently, no conclusions were ever reached.
  In 1885, he undertook his most ambitious project; a panorama of Rio de Janeiro as seen from the Morro de Santo Antônio, a hill near the city's midpoint. With the assistance of Henri Langerock (1830–1915), a Belgian Orientalist painter who came from North Africa to work on the project, it was completed in 1888. Initially it was displayed in Brussels, where it had been created, then won a Gold Medal at the Exposition Universelle (1889).
  After the Republic was declared in 1889, Meirelles and other artists associated with the monarchy were removed from their posts at the Imperial Academy although, officially, he was dismissed for his age. In 1893 he attempted to start a private school, together with Eduardo de Sá and Décio Villares, but was not successful. Without sufficient resources, he installed his Panorama of Rio de Janeiro in a hut and charged 1,000 Réis per visitor. Any of the proceeds not used for living expenses went to the Santa Casa de Misericórdia. Eventually, though, he sank into poverty and became ill. He died, unnoticed, at his modest home during the Sunday morning Carnaval festivities. His Panorama was placed into storage where it became rotten and moldy and was eventually dumped into Guanabara Bay.
caption: The Battle of Guararapes (1879)
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