This interpretation about the Dutch invasion was built in the 19th century, based on the historiographic production of the Brazilian Historic and Geographic Institute (IHGB), creating the "visual memory of the nation".

[3] Centrally and prominently, there is André Vidal de Negreiros, field master of the Portuguese Army, brandishing his sword, mounted on a brown and white horse that prances at the moment captured by the artist, making his image taller than any other.

[3] Right behind André Vidal, there is the commander of the troop, Barreto de Menezes, also mounted on horseback, showing his sword and going to capture the governor of the Dutch, Sigismund von Schkopp.

On the lower side of the canvas, on the dirt floor with some bloodstains, are several wounded men, dead, lying among some dry branches, abandoned weapons and pieces of clothing.

Meirelles composes the topography of the region and inserts in the background, in the third plane, Cabo de Santo Agostinho, the place that represents the reason for the confrontation between the two groups.

[3] The language used by Meirelles is clear and seeks to be faithful to the event and the place, with the intention of rescuing the spirit of an era from its vestiges, since the paintings of battles became, at that time, ways of documenting real exploits, and recording them as an eyewitness account.

One of them was to go to the Instituto Arqueológico, Histórico e Geográfico Pernambucano (English: Archeological, Historical and Geographical Institute of Pernambuco), where he could visualize and research about weapons and other utensils present in his canvas.

Another research he did was through the collection of the National Historical Museum, where there are several defense equipment, copies of war instruments, on which Meirelles could take as reference to produce the painting.

[11]Being a historical work, the artist used as one of his main sources, the narrative of the Brazilian historian Francisco Adolfo de Varnhagen, História das Lutas dos Holandeses no Brasil (English: History of the Fights of the Dutch in Brazil).

[3] Batalha dos Guararapes painting is set in the imperial period of Brazil, more specifically in the second reign of Dom Pedro II, produced a few years after the end of the Paraguayan War.

[15] The Imperial Academy of Fine Arts in Rio de Janeiro received several artistic manifestations, such as neoclassicism, impressionism and romanticism, especially between the 1850s and 1920s, fitting Meirelles' works into the latter aesthetic, since he was part of the first generation of national romantic painters, along with Pedro Américo, Almeida Junior, Rodolfo Amoedo, Henrique Bernardelli and others.

The first school, much studied by the artist in his formative period, is noted in the strong contrasts of light and shadow and in the predominance of color over drawing, elements that were recovered already by the early Romantics, and the second, in the balanced, rational, and undramatic organization of the scene.

Painters such as Meirelles, one of the most sought after and considered one of the greatest expressions of 19th century academic art in Brazil, when feeding the idea of national identity in the Batalha dos Guararapes, had control not only of the looks to the past, but also of the projections of what would be the future of a country, together with the State, which was a contractor for these producers and commissioned these memories.

The representation of Cabo de Santo Agostinho brings a historical summary of the moment and also clarifies the reader of the importance of the area at the time, being an element that refers to the author's official history and research.

[3]It was rumored that the Dutch were preparing for a new attack, with the objective point of their exploration, with certain success of a better harvest, Cabo Santo Agostinho; located at a distance of 20 leagues away, south of Recife, which at that time was so distinguished by its great development.

[27]Even with a commitment to exaltation of national pride, Meirelles does not inferiorize the Dutch warriors, but rather, represents them with bravery and dignity even at the moment they are defeated, a detail that emphasizes the synchrony of the painting with the work of Francisco Adolfo de Varnhagen.

My aim was all noble and the highest; it was necessary to treat that subject as a true historical picture, at the height that history deservedly consecrates to that handful of patriots who, driven by enthusiasm and love of the homeland, became notable meritorious.

[28] This set of motifs and aspirations was also an essential part of the academic tradition of historical painting, which has always been the most prestigious genre for scholars, considered the most noble and complete, and the ideal stage for the consecration of political and social ideologies, important also for its strong educational and moral associations.

[31][32] For the members of the Institute and the Academy's leaders, as art historian Maraliz Vieira Christo states, "the continuity between past, present and future would be the thread that would weave the national memory".

It fell to Victor Meirelles and his greatest rival, Pedro Américo, the role of main representatives of the tradition of historical painting in Brazil during the imperial period, in which the Battle is one of the most outstanding examples.

The accusations were diverse, from plagiarism of the artists, to false or inappropriate representations of people, objects, props, scenes, alleging a lack of commitment to the painting's fidelity to the past.

This systematized rule would be applied in paintings of the historical genre, according to Félibien, a category that contributed too much to academic teaching besides enabling the painter a valuable status and social recognition.

[3]Other principles also preached by André Félibien on the theory of painting were cited by Meirelles, in defense of his work, such as the importance of perspectives, of light and dark, of the ordering of figures, of proportions.

[3]: p.75 The episodes, however picturesque and characteristic of a battle, whose end was only to represent the destruction or extermination of one race by another, could not, on the canvas Batalha dos Guararapes, contribute to excite the interest calculated by the artist, who only thought of drawing the spectator's attention to the main characters (...) Movement in the art of composing a picture is not, nor can it be taken in the sense that our critics want to give it.

[11]In this way, Meirelles uses the knowledge of his artistic training, rich in doctrines of the pictorial tradition, and combines his research on the Batalha dos Guararapes, to assert that the figure is a credible representation, and not a source of his imagination.

Another criticism he received was that made by Jornal do Commercio, in 1879, which accused the painter of representing models of weapons and clothing that belonged to a certain "Theater of Mr. Ferrari", and not the originals used at the time of the combat.

[11]In response to the criticism, Rangel de Sampaio, a friend of Meirelles, recalls that the painter went to Pernambuco with the purpose of researching and, in fact, saw several artifacts from the period.

[3]What Rangel de Sampaio says about Meireles' trip to Pernambuco: Conscientious as he is, attentive to the study of topography and all the physical accidents that are connected to the subjects he tries to immortalize on his canvases, he, commissioned to commemorate the Battle of Guararapes, went to examine the theater of action.

[3]One circumstance, however, which I thought I should not disregard, due to its respectful origin, was that it made me alter the physiognomy of the indigenous person in question, to give him the appearance that can be seen today on the Guararapes canvas and which is particularized as a defect... (...) Mr. Justice Tristão de Alencar Araripe, more than once honoring my "atelier" with his presence, also expressed his regret for seeing that character thus characterized.

[11]The choice to represent Camarão with a jovial image, even though he was seventy years old, was based on sources consulted by Meirelles, by his pictorial knowledge and on the theme, and also on racial theories of the time, i.e., this act followed a historical scientific content.