The 1888 painting Independence or Death (Independência ou Morte in Portuguese), also known as the Cry of Ipiranga (Grito do Ipiranga in the original), is the main artwork representing the proclamation of the Brazilian independence.
Author
Pedro Américo was born in 1843, in the Paraíba Province of Brazil, more specifically in the now municipality of Areia, at the time the small town of Brejo d'Areia. Since his youth, he showed a vocation for painting, being 10 years old when he participated as a drawer of flora and fauna in a scientific expedition through Northeastern Brazil led by the French naturalist Louis Jacques Brunet. At approximately 13 years old, he entered the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts, in the city of Rio de Janeiro. His performance at the academy made him known even to Emperor Pedro II, who sponsored a trip to Paris and studies at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, where the artist perfected his style, mainly in historical painting. His most famous work, Independence or Death (Portuguese: ), was shown for the first time in the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze (Academy of Fine Arts of Florence) on April 8, 1888. After going to Brazil, remaining there for a few years, he returned to Florence, where he died in 1905.
Context
Pre-execution agreements
Contrarily to what is speculated, Pedro Américo was not invited to execute the painting dedicated to the independence: the artist himself offered to do it. In 1885, according to records made by imperial adviser Joaquim Inácio Ramalho, Américo declared to the commission of works, that he would charge himself with making a historical painting in memory of the glorious act of Prince Regent Pedro, proclaiming the Brazilian independence. Américo's proposal was not immediately accepted, due to a lack of funds and the architecture of the building that would in the future become the Museu Paulista. In December of the same year, the newspaper A Província de São Paulo published an article criticising the government's behaviour, accusing it of giving false hopes to the artist, considered at the time a master of aesthetics.
It is thought that the media's provocations caused the panel in charge of approving or rejecting Américo's request to change its mind. Towards the end of December 1885, Pedro Américo receives a letter from Ramalho accepting his offer.
In a contract signed on July 14, 1886, between Pedro Américo e Ramalho, at the time president of the Commission of the Monument to the Independence of Brazil, the artist committed himself to painting, accordingly to the description of the documents, a "commemorative historical painting of the proclamation of independence by prince regent D. Pedro in the fields of Ypiranga" (Portuguese: ). The deadline for the painting of the work would be three years, and Américo would be paid thirty contos de réis, in addition to the six that the artist received when he signed the contract, money destined to the first studies and preparatory activities for the work. Entirely painted in Florence, it was finished a year before due, in 1888.
History
Américo finished the painting in 1888 in Florence, Italy, 66 years after the proclamation of independence. The Brazilian imperial house commissioned the work, due to investments into the construction of the Museu do Ipiranga (presently the Museu Paulista). The goal of the artwork was to emphasize the monarchy.
Controversy
There exists evidence that the painting is not an accurate description of the events on the shores of the Ipiranga Brook.
Plagiarism accusation
Pedro Américo as a copier
The painting by Pedro Américo can be compared with other works made by different artists. That resulted in plagiarism accusations to the painter. In his work, Américo creates a dialogue between art history and the traditional battle paintings that emphasised the hero (previously made by his teachers). The process of making the painting was complex. The dialogue with historical paintings was well regarded by the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts, in addition to being a technique used by many artists, without being considered a copy. He intended to develop an image that reminded of those works from the past accordingly to the techniques that were used by those artists.
The experience he had 10 years earlier, with his work Batalha do Avaí, that was not well received by critics, classifying it as "anti-academical" (Portuguese: ), made him study in more depth aesthetic topics and publish the literary work Discurso Sobre o Plágio na Literatura e na Arte (Discourse On Plagiarism in Literature and Art) in 1879, years before beginning Independência ou Morte.