Japanese Print "The Lovers Shirai Gonpachi and Komurasaki of the Miuraya" by Eishosai Choki
Artist:Eishosai Choki
Title:The Lovers Shirai Gonpachi and Komurasaki of the Miuraya
Date:about 1793
Details:More information...
Source:Worcester Art Museum
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Description:
Standing figures of the famous lovers. According to the inscription: "In the style of a picture by Suzuki Harunobu." A similar print bearing the same inscription was also designed by Utamaro. Neither in that nor in this rendereing is there any real resemblance to the style of Harunobu save a certain serenity. The figures, as in the case of Tragic love stories taken from real life and dramatized were a staple of stage and print; the darkly romantic combination of desire and death was hugely popular in the eighteenth century. Shirai Gompachi was a warrior of the Tottori fief in western Japan who fled to Edo after committing a murder. He was apprehended and sentenced to death in 1679. His distraught lover, the courtesan Komurasaki, committed suicide at his grave.