Arrival of Westerners in Japan

This painting, placed at the back of the grand salon, is made up of three wooden panels painted in oil on a gold leaf background. It depicts the first contact between Europeans and Japanese on the island of Nagasaki. Groups of figures, some allegorical such as naked women, others more realistic (workers at work) symbolise the meeting of the two civilisations. The artist drew on the technique of spatial composition typical of the Japanese painting tradition, freely planting different figures in an abstract space. The white bodies of the figures and the bright blue and red tones of the clothes stand out against the gold background, used in early 17th-century Japan.

Discover the arrival of Westerners in Japan

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