Background
Victor Meirelles was born on August 18, 1832 in Florianopolis, Brazil.
Imperial Academy of Fine Arts
14 Rue Bonaparte, 75006 Paris, France
Ecole des Beaux-Arts
Victor Meirelles was born on August 18, 1832 in Florianopolis, Brazil.
In 1847, Victor enrolled at the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts in Rio de Janeiro, graduating in 1852. The same year, the painter won the Prix du Voyage for a study trip to Europe. He continued his studies in Florence and also in Rome, where he studied under the guidance of Tommaso Minardi and Nicola Consoni at the Academy of Saint Luke.
Some time later, Victor left for Paris, where he attended the École des Beaux-Arts, refining his technique with Leon Cogniet and Paul Delaroche.
In 1868, Victor Meirelles spent time aboard several warships in order to complete a commission for naval history paintings and, over the next decade, executed numerous works for the Imperial Family.
In 1875, Meirelles was commissioned to produce a historical work, based on a seventeenth century battle between the Dutch colonizers and the Portuguese/Brazilian army. He went to the area, where the conflict had occurred, in order to produce a topographical accurate background and began making preliminary sketches for his monumental historical work, which became known as "Batalha de Guararapes" (Battle of Guararapes). Meirelles completed the work four years later. It was a depiction of the First Battle of Guararapes, which took place in 1648 in the Guararapes Hills in the north-east of the country.
In 1879, the painter exhibited his large painting of the Second Battle of Guararapes at the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts in Brazil. In 1885, together with Henri Langerock, a Belgian Orientalist painter, Victor Meirelles 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. The work was completed in 1888.
Victor Meirelles also served as an Honorary Professor at the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts, a position he held until 1889, when he was removed from the Academy together with other artists, who were associated with the monarchy.
In 1893, he attempted to start a private school, together with Eduardo de Sá and Décio Villares, but the attempt failed.
Estudo para Panorama do Rio de Janeiro
A passagem de Humaitá
A Morta
Batalha de Guararapes
São João Batista no cárcere
O combate naval do Riachuelo
Moema
Vista do Desterro
A degolação de São João Batista
Cristo sobre as ondas
Juramento da Princesa Isabel
D. Pedro II, o Magnânimo
A primeira missa no Brasil
Vista do Desterro