Victor Meirelles

Victor Meirelles de Lima (18 August 1832, Florianópolis – 22 February 1903, Rio de Janeiro) was a Brazilian painter who is best known for his works relating to his nation's culture and history.

His parents were recent immigrants from Portugal. He displayed an early talent for art, producing his first known work (a landscape of Santa Catarina Island), at the age of fourteen. This work impressed Jerônimo Coelho, an Imperial Counselor, who brought Meirelles to Rio de Janeiro and introduced him to Félix Taunay, Director of the Academia Imperial de Belas Artes. It was decided that the Academy would take charge of his education, so he enrolled there in 1847 and remained until 1852. That year, his painting of "St.John the Baptist in Prison" won him the Prix du Voyage for a study trip to Europe.

He passed through Paris, although he spent most of his time in Florence and Rome, where he studied with Tommaso Minardi and Nicola Consoni at the Accademia di San Luca. In 1856, he returned to Paris and remained until 1860. During this period, he attended the École des Beaux-Arts, refining his technique with Léon Cogniet and Paul Delaroche. While there he maintained contact with Manuel de Araújo Porto-Alegre, his mentor at the Imperial Academy, who suggested the subject for one of Meirelle's best-known works, "Primeira Missa no Brasil" (The First Mass in Brazil), which took him two years to complete. It has since been used in numerous history textbooks and on the 1,000 Cruzeiro banknote.

Upon his return to Brazil, Emperor Pedro II awarded him the Order of Christ and made him a Knight in the Order of the Rose. He also became an Honorary Professor at the Academy and later was given the Chair of History Painting. In 1868, he spent time aboard several warships to complete a commission for naval history paintings and, over the next decade, executed numerous works for the Imperial Family.

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