Cena do Porto de Santos, 1826

Van Emelen's view of the Port of Santos, dated 1826 in its title but painted around 1901, depicts one of Brazil's most important colonial-era harbours. Santos was the primary port through which São Paulo's coffee exports reached the world market, and its historic waterfront carried the accumulated layers of colonial and commercial history. By painting it as a historical scene set in 1826, van Emelen engaged in a form of retrospective documentation — imagining the port as it appeared during the Brazilian Empire rather than recording contemporary reality. The Ipiranga Museum holds this as part of his broader documentary project.

The composition gives emphasis to the broad horizontal of the harbour and its working activity, with ships and figures establishing scale and narrative. The colour palette suggests both historical distance and the quality of light characteristic of the Brazilian coastal environment.