A Living and Still Visible Idea: The Trajectory of The Surrender of Uruguaiana, by Pedro Américo, and the Survival of a Historical Narrative through Prints

Abstract

This article examines the trajectory of Pedro Américo’s The Surrender of Uruguaiana, from its sketch to its physical destruction and survival through reproductive prints. By combining art history, visual culture, and nineteenth-century politics, it shows how the image, after losing its original support, was preserved, reinterpreted, and disseminated through lithographs in Rio de Janeiro’s illustrated press. Far from being mere copies, the prints acted as devices of memory and imperial legitimation, highlighting their active role in the persistence and transformation of historical imagery in nineteenth-century Brazil.