Moses' mother feels a deep toothache." Oscar Guanabarino stated that: The controversies that Américo's works often caused were aimed not only at him as an artist, but also as a symbol. For Cybele Fernandes, "in fact, the Academy of Fine Arts and the entire system that it represented, its methods, processes, teachers, and politics, as well as the maturation of society in relation to art and its social function were also evaluated". Although Américo's civic paintings rose to fame as soon as they were exposed and recognized by the establishment, as was the case with Batalha de Campo Grande, Batalha do Avaí and Independência ou Morte!, they still bothered enough people, who saw in them a falsification of the factual truth of the events portrayed. According to Elias Saliba, in that period of accelerated technical and scientific innovations, the large public was already used to the visual fidelity of photography, and wished to see in the historical paintings the same scientific accuracy, and no longer the abstract and idealistic conventions of the old academic tradition. However, there were no image records of the events he painted, and despite his extensive prior documentary research, the artist found it very difficult to: Commenting on these aspects in the case of Independência ou Morte!, Consuelo Schlichta considered that, according to the academic perspective, if necessary, the truth would need to be falsified in order to create a convincing and moving impression of truth. According to some reports, emperor Pedro I, who was in the midst of a trip to São Paulo, upon receiving the news that led him to proclaim Brazil's independence, was found suffering pains from a "gastric illness". To make matters worse, he had a donkey for a mount and was accompanied by a handful of soldiers who in all probability wore shabby, smelly uniforms. Naturally, the representation of "truth", in this exemplary case, would have an effect completely opposite to what was intended, which was to enshrine a true founding myth and glorify the "author" of the independent nation. It was necessary, more than evoking history, to invent it, and more than inventing it, to theatricalize it, so that the memory in focus could be influentially crystallized in the people's imagination according to a pre-established program. Thus, Dom Pedro, placed at the center of the entire composition, in the work of Pedro Américo ceases to be a mere mortal and