a contract that both honored him and gave him good remuneration. Immediately Meirelles moved to the conflict region to gather impressions of the landscape and the military environment. He set up a workshop aboard the ship Brasil, the flagship of the Brazilian fleet, and spent months there drawing up sketches for his works. Returning to Rio de Janeiro, he took up a space at the Santo Antônio Convent, which he turned into a studio, and put himself to work diligently, isolating himself from the world. This effort resulted in two of his most important works, both of great dimensions: Passagem de Humaitá and Combate Naval de Riachuelo. While he was working on these paintings, he received a visit from the imperial family, with whom he had contact, which resulted in new paintings and the sending of Combate Naval de Riachuelo to represent Brazil at an international fair held in the United States. Upon returning from the exhibition, the work was damaged. In 1871 he painted Juramento da Princesa Regente, the following year he was appointed commander of the Order of the Rose, and in 1875 he began the sketches for another great historical work, Batalha dos Guararapes, accepting a project that had been refused by Pedro Américo, who preferred work on his Batalha de Avaí. As he had done before, Meirelles went to the region where the conflict had taken place to conceive the composition with greater historical accuracy. The two battle paintings were exhibited at the Salon of 1879 and both artists received the Grand Prix and the title of dignitaries of the Order of the Rose, but it triggered the greatest aesthetic controversy that had hitherto taken place in Brazil. While some recognized their superlative abilities, hailing them as geniuses and heroes, others accused them of plagiarism and passé. At the same time, two parties were formed, one supporting Meirelles and the other Américo, in the dispute over which of the battle painting was more perfect. The lay public also got involved and the discussion took over the newspapers and magazines for months. Despite receiving much applause, the also numerous criticisms struck Meirelles deeply, throwing him into a state of melancholy tha apparently accompanied him until the end of his life. In 1883 Meirelles was back in Europe, where he made a new version of Combate Naval de Riachuelo, which had been lost, and in Belgium he began,