Meirelles heard it all, being called a genius and a master to a fake and incompetent, signaling the moment in which his career begins to decline. It was reflected in him, and with special poignancy due to his personal prominence and his position as a great symbol of academicism, the irresistible advance of the modernist aesthetic, which opposed everything he represented. The criticisms of Gonzaga Duque were mild compared to those of Angelo Agostini, who excelled in sarcasm. Speaking of Batalha dos Guararapes, and responding to the painter’s declaration of intent, he said that everything was false, everything was montage, fantasy and convention, in no way corresponding to the events and feelings that should have taken place in the real conflagration: Meirelles also had a personal concern with the educational function of art, in addition to seeing it as a great means of disseminating Brazil abroad, which was in line with the government's official program. According to Sandra Makowiecky, Carlos Coelho and others, this was especially clear about his panoramas. With these works Meirelles took a big step towards modern sensibility. At the same time, Panorama do Rio must have been, from what can be seen in the studies that have survived, a testimony to the physiognomy of the city in a phase of great urban and architectural changes. So identified with the Empire, the negative criticisms were accentuated with the advent of the Republic, and finally, Meirelles was ostracized. But he was never entirely forgotten. His students retained many of his teachings and relayed them, and when his panoramas were rediscovered in 1910 his memory was remembered as that of a distinguished artist — which makes the fate that the panels received all the more paradoxical — and in 1924 the modernist Ronald de Carvalho described him as one of the leading artists of the 19th century, praising his sensitivity to nature, light and "atmosphere", his correct design, his technique and his skills as a landscaper and panoramicist. Meirelles figure was revived with more force after the centenary celebrations of his birth, in 1932, when he was hailed as a humanist, a martyr and a painter of the Brazilian soul. Today, his works are displayed in the largest Brazilian museums, art critics and academics are incessantly interested, and he lends his name to several streets and schools. He was biographed by Carlos Rubens, Argeu Guimarães, Angelo de Proença Rosa