Forest and Stream

Matsuoka Hisashi, who enrolled in the Imperial College of Arts as its youngest student, studied abroad in Italy and France after withdrawing from the college along with Asai Chu and others. Upon returning to Japan, he actively promoted Western-style painting as a member of the Meiji Bijutsukai art society. While he excelled in portraiture, due in part to his study abroad, and produced superb portraits, he also painted landscapes based on drawings from life, adhering to the teachings of Antonio Fontanesi at the Imperial College of Arts. Despite its small size and subdued colors, this work conveys the beauty of nature in an unassuming landscape, with highlights including the transparency of reflections in the stream. In the lower left corner, an inscription in Italian reads “To my wonderful friend Asai Chu,” indicating that it was a gift to Asai, a comrade since the days when Matsuoka was his junior at the Imperial College of Arts. (F.R.)