Sítio de São Jorge dos Erasmos

The 'Sítio de São Jorge dos Erasmos,' painted by Calixto in 1901, documents what is believed to be Brazil's oldest surviving European building—a sixteenth-century sugar mill near Santos associated with the early Portuguese colonial period. Erasmo Schetz, a Flemish merchant, established the enterprise in the 1530s, making it one of the first industrial operations in the Americas. Calixto's careful documentation of the site reflects his role as a visual historian of Brazilian colonial heritage, working at a moment when archaeological and historical interest in the colonial period was intensifying. The Ipiranga Museum holds this historically significant work.

The ancient structure is rendered with architectural precision that emphasises its antiquity—weathered stone walls and the rudimentary character of early colonial construction—set within the coastal vegetation of the Santos lowlands. Light and atmosphere reinforce the scene's historical remoteness.