Edo Period Ukiyo-e Horse/Year of the Horse (Utagawa Hiroshige II)

This is a work by the second-generation Utagawa Hiroshige. The piece is mounted in a simple acrylic panel with a wooden frame of A5 size. It is marked with the third year of Bunkyu (1863), but it may be a later impression from the late Edo period. A pupil of the first-generation Hiroshige, his surname was originally Suzuki and later changed to Morita, with the given name Jinpei. He used the art names Ichiyusai, Ichiryusai, Ryusai, Ryusho, and Kisai. He became a disciple of the first-generation Hiroshige during the Koka era and was initially called Shigenobu. He created bijin-ga (pictures of beautiful women), kacho-ga (bird-and-flower paintings), and musha-e (warrior prints), and later began to paint landscapes. After the death of the first-generation Hiroshige in Ansei 5 (1858), he became the son-in-law of Hiroshige's adopted daughter Tatsu the following year in Ansei 6, inheriting the name of the second-generation Hiroshige. In the first year of Keio (1865), due to marital disputes, he separated from Tatsu and subsequently adopted the Morita surname. He moved to Yokohama, using the art name Kisai Ryusho, and created label paintings for export tea boxes. In December of Ansei 6 (1859), he boldly featured the golden carp on the keep of Nagoya Castle under the moonlight in the "Famous Views of Various Provinces: True View of Nagoya in Owari Province." He participated in the late series of the first-generation Hiroshige, "One Hundred Famous Views of Edo," with the signature "Second-generation Hiroshige" on the "Evening Scene of Rain at the Paulownia Field in Akasaka" among the 120 prints. Works signed as "Ryusho" include Yokohama-e and Kaika-e. Among his hand-painted works, the "Yukunzu" created during the Ansei period is notable, signed "Shigenobu hitsu" with a vermilion square seal reading "Shigenobu." He passed away on September 17, Meiji 2 (1869), at the age of 44. His grave is located at Seiganji Temple in Akasaka Ichigi.