published abroad, placing Américo in the position of heroic founder of the Brazilian school of painting, and which is the primary source of the various biographies that emerged later, almost all of which were also partial and exaggerated in the contemporary perspective, but which reveal the intensity of the enthusiasm that Américo and his work could arouse. In the opinion of Silvano Bezerra da Silva, the different activities he performed, as an artist, essayist, politician, novelist, and others, "in addition to indicating a restless personality, also indicate Pedro Américo's insistence on overcoming the limitations of the environment, and to impose himself as an intellectual endowed with plural qualities". But in the words of Rafael Cardoso, "anyone who knows a little about Pedro Américo's biography and writings will know that it is not appropriate to attach too much importance to his almost unlimited self-contemplation. It is not surprising that a man who, in addition to considering himself the greatest painter of his the time, boasted of having refuted Bacon, Kant and Comte in the field of philosophy and even risked as a novelist, attributed to his own works a high historical value". Américo had a strong sense of professional independence, being a skillful negotiator of his interests with clients, the press and official sponsors. He didn't always get everything he wanted, but his international success is partly due to his dynamism and assertiveness in this regard. At only fifteen years old, already aware of his talent, he had requested the personal sponsorship of the emperor, and throughout his career he sought his promotion systematically, obtaining an unprecedented international response for a Brazilian, being the subject of about 300 articles published in many countries of the world. Europe, mainly Italy and Germany, besides, of course, Brazil, most of them with great praise for his talent. Ernesto Gomes Moreira Maia, interim director of Imperial Academy, was an example: "The paintings by Dr. Pedro Américo, almost all of them suitable only for galleries due to their dimensions, form a collection of great merit, both for their perfect execution and for the feeling of an idealistic composition; and although the artist's detractors look for imaginary defects in them, the paintings will remain for the glory of their author and the school from which they came, and the honor of those who give them due appreciation". Laudelino Freire also remarked that: "The work of Pedro Américo...