1852, he entered the political career, assuming a position as a substitute councilman in the Municipal Chamber of Rio de Janeiro, lending service in the areas of urbanism and public health. He exercised this post until 1854, the year when he became the headmaster of the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts, lasting until 1857. In 1860, Porto-Alegre entered the diplomatic career, where he served as the consul of the Empire of Brazil in the Kingdom of Prussia, in the Kingdom of Saxony and later in Portugal, where he died. (Porto-Alegre's remains were brought to Brazil in 1922.) He was granted the title of Baron of Santo Ângelo by emperor Pedro II in 1874, and was a member of the Brazilian Historic and Geographic Institute. Spiritism While in Dresden in 1865, Porto-Alegre wrote a letter to Joaquim Manuel de Macedo, then-tutor of Princess Isabel's children, in which he reveals that he became a Spiritist and was able to psychograph messages from the Underworld, and Isabel would ask him "who was [her] guardian spirit". The letter, now being kept at the Brazilian National Archives, has 12 pages. Literary works Poetry Ode Sáfica (1830 — dedicated to Jean-Baptiste Debret) Canto Inaugural (1855) Brasiliana (1863) Colombo (epic poem — 1866) Theater plays Prólogo Dramático (1837) Angélica e Firmino (1845) A Destruição das Florestas (1845) A Estátua Amazônica (1851) A Restauração de Pernambuco (1852) A Noite de São João (1857) Cenas de Penafiel (1858) Os Judas (1859) O Prestígio da Lei (1859) Os Lobisomens (1862) Os Voluntários da Pátria (1877) Fiction Excertos das Memórias e Viagens do Coronel Bonifácio do Amarante (under pen name Tibúrcio do Amarante) (1848) Translations Electra by Euripides Lucrèce Borgia by Victor Hugo Christine of Sweden by Alexandre Dumas Famous paintings References External links Excerpts of Porto-alegre's epic poem Colombo at the official site of the Brazilian Academy of Letters Porto-Alegre's biography at the official site of the Brazilian Academy of Letters A chronology of Porto-Alegre's life in Itaú Cultural 1806 births 1879 deaths People from Rio Grande do Sul 19th-century Brazilian poets Federal University of Rio de Janeiro faculty Brazilian cartoonists Brazilian magazine founders Brazilian romantic painters Brazilian architects Brazilian spiritual mediums Brazilian diplomats Brazilian translators Romantic poets Brazilian male poets Patrons of the Brazilian Academy of Letters Brazilian nobility French–Portuguese translators Greek–Portuguese translators 19th-century painters of historical subjects Spiritism 19th-century journalists Male journalists 19th-century translators 19th-century Brazilian dramatists and