painting, absorbing references from the Renaissance, which included, for example, Raphael and Giuseppe Cesari, from the Baroque of Titian and Tintoretto and from neoclassicals and romantics such as Cogniet, Vernet, Delaroche and Delacroix. From all these schools Meirelles collected subsidies for the formation of his personal style. An especially significant influence in the idealist sense, in his formative period, was the contact with the production of the Nazarene group, through Johann Friedrich Overbeck and his teachers Tommaso Minardi and Nicola Consoni. The Nazarenes advocated an attitude of purity expressed in an exemplary life and in painting focused on noble themes, where religion played a central role. Meirelles did not become famous for his religious works, which are few, conservative and of secondary importance, and even though he was personally a devout Catholic, he was artistically committed to the proposal of a secular and progressive society, where art had an important civic and pedagogical role to fulfill, but the group's ideals of purity, unblemished life and hard and honest work left their marks on Meirelles personality and work. His classicism can be seen in the general harmony of the compositions, in its placid character, in its interpretation of nature loaded with poetry, and even when it comes to battles, the impression of movement and violence, which would be expected for such a theme, is in the background, and what stands out is the balanced organization of the set, as the author himself recognized, largely canceling the effect of drama. It is significant that Meirelles used very few of his numerous sketches depicting the most violent and desolate aspects of the battles when he produced the definitive works, but a piece like Passagem de Humaitá could hardly fit into the classic profile, with a drama aspect marked by several authors, such as Carlos Rubens, who considered it a true vision of hell. Even Combate Naval do Riachuelo, which differs greatly from the other in the dramatic aspect, was called a "phantasmagorical allegory" by Mário César Coelho. In Meirelles time, Brazil was just emerging from the Baroque tradition, which was still alive in several places, but which since the beginning of the 19th century, under the influence of the neoclassical avant-garde sponsored by the Portuguese court and the French Mission, was already considered outdated by the elite. Even giving great importance to classical principles, the way he organized his compositions, with groups forming