The painting depicts the hanging of Tiradentes. In the center of the gallows, Tiradentes, long hair and beard, rope tied around his neck, looking up, hands crossed in front of his body, wearing a long white tunic. On the left, a black man kneeling in a red shirt, blue pants rolled up and a necklace, his left hand covering his face and his right resting on his bent knee. On the right, a priest in black, kneeling, arms raised, holding a crucifix in his right hand. In the background, blue sky, white clouds, birds in flight and a white dove landing at the bottom of the scaffold.
Joaquim José da Silva Xavier (November 12, 1746 – April 21, 1792), known as Tiradentes, was a member of the colonial Brazilian revolutionary movement known as Inconfidência Mineira, whose aim was full independence from Portuguese colonial power and creation of a Brazilian republic. When the separatists' plot was uncovered by authorities, Tiradentes was arrested, tried and publicly hanged.