『画本虫撰』 「松虫」「虫蛍」|Tree cricket (Matsumushi); Firefly (Hotaru), from the Picture Book of Crawling Creatures (Ehon mushi erami)
1788
ink
From the collection of Metropolitan Museum of Art
1788
ink
From the collection of Metropolitan Museum of Art
Dominant colour
『画本虫撰』 「松虫」「虫蛍」|Tree cricket (Matsumushi); Firefly (Hotaru), from the Picture Book of Crawling Creatures (Ehon mushi erami) is a 1788 ink by Kitagawa Utamaro, a Romanticism work, depicting butterfli, held at Metropolitan Museum of Art.
This print shows two insects near tall plants. One looks like a tree cricket clinging to a leafy stem, while the other is a firefly floating nearby. The background is mostly empty space, letting the dark lines of the plants and insects stand out. The artist used simple ink lines to show texture, like tiny strokes on the leaves. The firefly’s glow isn’t shown—just its shape and the space around it. Next, look up Kitagawa Utamaro to see how he made insects look alive.
