Utagawa Hiroshige I
ca. 1831
Donated by the Homma family
Utagawa Hiroshige made a name for himself with his landscape woodblock print series “Famous Places in the Eastern Capital”, of which this is an entry. His vivid crimsons and indigo blue make this a striking work.
A landscape painting of the Sumida River around late spring, the left frame features the torii gate of the Masaki Inari Shinto Shrine, while Mount Tsukuba is drawn far off in the distance.
Utagawa Hiroshige I (1797-1858) was an ukiyo-e artist of the late Edo period. In his early years he worked on paintings of beautiful women and warrior and actor portraits, establishing his standing as a landscape artist in 1833 with the release of his Hōeidō edition of the “Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō” series.