 A year later, Victor Meirelles, wanting to retire, offered Júnior his position as professor of history painting at the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts, but Júnior refused the offer because he preferred to stay in São Paulo.From 1887 to 1896, he made three more trips to Europe.He increasingly rejected Biblical and historical subjects in favor of regionalist themes, depicting the everyday life of the "caipiras" while moving from academic style to Naturalism.