In 1862, an equestrian statue of Emperor Dom Pedro I (1798–1834), made by the celebrated French sculptor Louis Rochet (1813–1878), was installed in Rio de Janeiro. Located in Constitution Square, this first civic monument to honor “the Liberator” caught the attention of a large number of visitors and locals who crossed the square on a daily basis. In this sculpture, a victorious Pedro I gazes over his shoulder holding the “Manifesto das Nações” (Manifesto of the Nations), the document of Independence. The image of the “Liberator” evokes his heroic stature. Therefore, he is placed in a position of power and dominance. The imperial authority invested in the monument extends from the man on horseback to the pedestal in which four Indigenous figures—allegorically representing the Amazonas, Madeira, São Francisco and Paraná rivers—and several animals (alligator, tapir, anteater and armadillo) complement the visual narrative of the great man, the symbolic embodiment of the nation. Following the traces of the romantic repertoire, the heroic figure of Pedro I seems to be celebrated by the natural elements of the territory in an idealized composition of a harmonious body politic.

Dismantling the monumental pose of imperial heroism became a crucial political statement for Angelo Agostini (1843–1910), a caricaturist of Italian origin and naturalized Brazilian who is considered one of the most important satirical illustrators of the nineteenth century. Between 1878 and 1888, the equestrian sculpture of Pedro I appeared at least seven times in Revista Illustrada (1876–98) transforming the heroic icon into a symbol of the State's failure during the Second Empire (1840–89). For instance, in a lithograph published on April 7, 1888, Pedro I was portrayed by Agostini looking for refuge during the flooding in Rio de Janeiro (Figure 4.1).

In this image, a wet and weak emperor dismounting his horse is helped by two individuals crossing the public square by boat. The two men who are responsible for rescuing the “hero” have their backs to the readers, while in the shadowy distance the monument to José Bonifácio is a mere silhouette of an old man fishing. Ironically, the image alludes to the anniversary of the abdication of Pedro I in favor of his son Dom Pedro II on April 7, 1831.