Memorial Portrait of the Artist Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III)

In this print made immediately after Kunisada’s death, Kunichika depicted his teacher as a pensive scholar. Immediately above the portrait are poems by Kunichika and two of Kunisada’s other prominent students, Kunisada II and Kunihisa II, as well as a poem that Kunisada composed about his own impending death. The right sheet of this diptych contains an obituary for the artist, written by a well-known author of the period who describes Kunisada as a student of Toyokuni. With three generations present in the text, the portrait becomes a celebration of both the artist and the Utagawa lineage.