an educational tool and a vital phenomenon for the evolution of societies was deepened and expanded to exhaustion in his many writings. On the other hand, some critics believed that Américo's long stays in Europe were an escape from Brazil, in whose history he would have little interest. His personal thematic preferences, as he himself stated, were heading in another direction. Be that as it may, it was on his historical works that his most enduring memory was built, works that acquired, like few others, the status of national icons in Brazil. Between tradition and modernity Even with much praise, Américo's work was not immune to the scrutiny of critics linked to emerging modernism. For Gonzaga Duque, after Batalha do Avaí – which although "confusing", "incomprehensible" and "full of defects" was "the greatest work of art that Brazil has" – Américo had stagnated: "No progress has been made in the span of five years... I will not say, however, that it has stopped forever; this is not the case; but I will say that some power, above the artist's will, has removed his mentality from the works of our time, from our aspirations of our aesthetic feeling, of the needs of our time". Duque also attacked Américo's philosophical writings and novels, saying that the artist embarked on areas that did not concern him, only out of vanity, and whose fruits were anachronisms that only satisfied frivolous spirits: "It was not enough for him to conquer the secrets of his art, he wished moreover, he sought the honors of a parchment, graduated from the Sorbonne and then obtained a doctorate in Belgium. The crisis of greatness came to him, which repeated itself several times in his life". Angelo Agostini was relentless in his sarcasm. About A Noite com os gênios do Estudo e do Amor, Agostini said that Américo threw "whipped egg whites into space! Nice thought (if it is his), but as for the execution... detestable! What a disaster!"; about Judite rende graças a Jeová por ter conseguido livrar sua pátria dos horrores de Holofernes, Agostini stated that "[she] thanks Jehovah for having managed to behead Holofernes without bleeding or wrinkling her beautiful toilet, nor her beautiful hands. What cleanliness!"; and about Jocabed levando Moisés até o Nilo, who on the painting raises her hand to her face with an anxious expression, Agostini commented that "before parting with her son,