  The combined use of the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) UT1 Science
Verification (SV) images and of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Hubble Deep
Field South observations allows us to strengthen the identification as a
candidate elliptical galaxy of the Extremely Red Object HDFS 223251-603910
previously identified by us on the basis of NICMOS and Cerro Tololo
Interamerican Observatory imaging. The photometry presented here includes VLT
data in U, B, V, R, I, a STIS unfiltered image, NICMOS J, H, and K band data,
thus combining the 16.5 hours of VLT SV exposures with 101 hours of HST
observing. The object is detected in all images except the VLT U band and is
one of the reddest known with B-K=9.7+-0.5. We consider a wide range of models
with different ages, metallicities, star formation histories and dust content,
and conclude that the observed spectral energy distribution agrees best with
that of an old elliptical galaxy at redshift just below 2. Alternative
possibilities are discussed in light of their likelihood and of the perspective
of spectroscopic confirmation.
