meanings of the spaces and the lives of their occupants, focusing on the study of the "identity of the citizens of Porto Alegre, weakened by the advent of transformations in urban space in vogue from the 1940s," as Charles Monteiro stated, and at the same time denouncing, dismaying, the accelerated "erasing of the marks of the city of yesteryear," such as the old buildings, since he understood them as necessary elements for the preservation of a sense of identity for the locals. In his writing, as Gabriela Silva observed, Damasceno makes recurrent use of the first person and of interpellations to the reader, interweaving personal and collective memories and experiences to the critical analysis of history, a strategy "to refer the reader to a continuity between past and present, which leads to the strengthening of the identity that one wants to conform". This did not hinder his lucidity regarding aspects of the past that had changed, citing for example the poor sanitation conditions and precarious public transport of nineteenth-century Porto Alegre, distinguishing them from the aspects he deemed essential for the preservation of the essence of local identity. Joana Figueiredo believes that "by historicizing the region and his city, in a sentimental and engaged way, Athos Damasceno inserts himself as an author committed to the past, its present and a future of the letters and arts of Rio Grande do Sul. His writing is at the same time memory and history, testimony and document". For Figueiredo, his role in the historiography of Rio Grande do Sul art compares to that of Vasari for the Italian arts of the Renaissance. "His interest in images, be they press caricatures, clothing and textiles, or missionary sculptures and the work of painters such as Pedro Weingärtner, attest to a founding role as a historian of art and visual culture on the scene of Porto Alegre and Rio Grande do Sul." However, despite being systematically used as a reference by contemporary art researchers, the author, his discourse, and his theoretical and ideological foundations still remain in the scope of academic studies. Figueiredo adds that "evidencing his contribution more expressively and shedding light on his written and intellectual production in his contribution to the historiography of art in Rio Grande do Sul is, today, more than a challenge and a necessity: But a settling of accounts with the History of Art of Rio Grande do Sul