Nanga landscape, late 19th century

Tokuhiro Tosai

Late 19th century

Artist’s signature and seals
104 x 41 cm

This painting represents a steep slope of a mountain with some pine trees. The mountain is crossed by a waterfall that flows into the water below, where two men are on a small boat.

The work is almost monochrome, except for a few details in green and yellow. The style is naturalistic and fine, as in nanga style, due to the chiaroscuro and to the fine details. On the top left corner there is the signature of the artist with his red seal. Tokuhiro Tosai, was a high ranking samurai, an expert swordsman and firearm specialist. He retired after his pupil Sakamoto Ryoma's death, the greatest of the last samurai, and took up the painting. Since he only worked in the last few years of his life, his paintings are very scarce, perhaps half a dozen come up in a decade, all of them suiboku landscape in Japanese Nanga style.

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