Sparrows Alighting on Wisteria

Rosetsu apparently enjoyed painting birds, especially sparrows, and produced many such works during his lifetime. In most of these, at least one of the sparrows is looking straight out of the painting, as if addressing the viewer directly. In this work there are two such birds among the seventeen that are either in flight or already alighted on the blossoming wisteria vine. By stretching the wisteria across the full length of the scroll, the composition makes skillful use of the painting’s tall and narrow format. The sparrows and wisteria are rendered in the mokkotsu (“boneless,” meaning without ink outlines) technique, which Rosetsu learned from Maruyama Ōkyo.

Rosetsu at first trained under Ōkyo, but was thought to have established himself as an independent painter around the age of 27. The artist’s monochrome ink paintings feature bold brushwork and pictorial compositions, but he also developed an individual style in paintings in color. The painting is signed “Rosetsu sha” and has two intaglio seals, “Nagasawa” and “Gyo.”