Originally from Itu, in São Paulo , he enrolled at the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts in Rio de Janeiro in 1869, and received his highest award (gold medal ) from that institution five years later. He returned to his native city in 1875, where he stayed for only one year thanks to a scholarship granted by Emperor Dom Pedro II to study in Europe. During his stay in the old continent, Almeida Júnior produced several iconic works of his career - as "Descanso do modelo" (1882) - and participates in various exhibitions in France and Italy . Back in Brazil in 1882, he set up his studio in São Paulo in the following year, where he portrayed various personalities of Brazilian society - such as Princess Isabel and, on another occasion, the Emperor D. Pedro II. The publication "Imprensa Ytuana", on April 27, 1884, describes how his work environment was: "His atelier -- if this little square room can be called that --, with low light and full of reflections -- it is equipped with a large number of studies, sketches and paintings, if each of them can't be considered a complete work of art (and some are) -- represents at least one stage of the artist's life, a moment of inspiration, an hour of joy, or one of profound study [...]. Today the artist paints the graceful, petulant, soft and rosy profile of a feminine head, tomorrow the angular forms -- so fond of Miguel Angelo -- of an old nude, almost an anatomical piece, covered in wrinkled yellowish parchment, with quick contrasts of light and shadow." He died, on account of a passion crime, on November 13, 1899, and is considered one of the most admired artists of São Paulo in the nineteenth century.
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