Posted by Guy Pepermans (90.227.76.99) on May 29, 2008 at 09:44:46:
In Reply to: Utamaro II's signature posted by richard marksbury on May 20, 2008 at 16:56:04:
Richard,
Utamaro II signed in most of the cases with "hitsu" ("painted by") as did his master Utamaro from the early 1790's on.
However, there are exceptions. Landscape prints or prints depicting famous places in the uki-e style (prints using a western perspective) were to my knowledge, always signed with "ga", never with "hitsu".
See for example the print Evening Bell at Mii Temple (Mii banshô), from the series Perspective Pictures of the Eight Views of Ômi (Uki-e Ômi hakkei) - MFA Boston nr 54.285.
Regarding the question "hitsu" vs "ga" take also a look at some previous messages posted in 2003.
http://www.ukiyo-e.se/archive/messages/4341.html
http://www.ukiyo-e.se/archive/messages/4346.html
http://www.ukiyo-e.se/archive/messages/4351.html
http://www.ukiyo-e.se/archive/messages/4352.html
Guy.