Lot 88: Charles Wirgman Sr. (British, 1832-1891) Mount Fuji, Japan

Mount Fuji, Japan
signed 'C Wirgman' (lower right); inscribed 'WIRGMAN/ MOUNT FUJI' (verso)
oil on canvas
23.7 x 31.2cm (9 5/16 x 12 5/16in).

Wirgman arrived in Japan in 1861 as a correspondent for the Illustrated London News, and resided in Yokohama from 1861 until his death. He published Japan's first magazine, the Japan Punch, monthly between 1862 and spring 1887. The magazine was written in a humorous, often satirical manner, and was illustrated with Wirgman’s cartoons.

In the 1860s, he accompanied British envoy Sir Ernest Satow on a number of journeys around Japan as described in Satow's A Diplomat in Japan.