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Love at the Brothel Gate

Suzuki Harunobu

1764

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Romanticism 18th Century

Dominant colour

Love at the Brothel Gate is a 1764 by Suzuki Harunobu, a Romanticism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: Suzuki Harunobu
When & what style?: 1764 · Romanticism
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

You see a courtesan and her lover talking at a brothel gate. The courtesan wears a crane motif on her obi sash. This detail is interesting because it shows the social norms of the time, where courtesans would interact with clients and others in the entertainment district. Check out the museum that has this piece, The Cleveland Museum of Art.

The story of this work

Overview

Courtesans were on display to potential clients through bars, an aspect of their jobs that also afforded an opportunity to have socially distanced interactions with fellow entertainment district denizens. Here, a courtesan with a crane motif on her obi sash converses with her lover, a young man carrying a miniature theater. The poem in the cloud above them comes from New Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern (新古今和歌集) and reads, Although I yearn, I do not speak as days and months, pass by behind my cedar gate. How can I endure keeping this secret within?

Read the full account in the museum source.