Benevolence, from The Five Virtues
Can I see it?
Not on view at present
Where is “Benevolence, from The Five Virtues” now? Collection: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland. Not on view at present. Checked September 29, 2026.
Cleveland, United States
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the work
This print belongs to a series of five depicting the cardinal virtues of Confucianism. In this image, a courtesan demonstrates benevolence by shaving her attendant’s neck. The other virtues are righteousness, decorum, knowledge, and fidelity. A poem at the top reads as follows: "If you would dwell on the path of the heart, / that is kind to others, / then must you not also be someone, / who suppresses even her own name?"
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Details
- Accession number
- 1949.124
In the catalog
Sources
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Image: The Cleveland Museum of Art — Museum open access
In the life of Suzuki Harunobu
The whole life1765
The first full-colour nishiki-e prints
The calendar prints became the first nishiki-e (“brocade prints”), and their origin is traced to 1765: Harunobu printed a single image from several separate blocks, up to ten colours on a sheet, and was the first ukiyo-e artist to use more than three colours consistently; notches and wedges held the paper in place so that the successive printings stayed in register. Paid for by wealthy patrons, he used the best materials — cherry wood instead of catalpa and more expensive colours applied more thickly for a more opaque effect.
1765–1770
Five years at his peak: 20 books and a thousand prints
Between 1765 and 1770 Harunobu created over twenty illustrated books, over one thousand colour prints (other accounts give more than eight hundred works) and a number of paintings.
1765–1770
Recognised as the master of ukiyo-e and widely imitated
In the last years of his life Harunobu came to be regarded as the master of ukiyo-e and was widely imitated: many artists copied his style during his lifetime.
late 1760s
Master of bijin-ga and scenes of Edo life
Harunobu became one of the primary producers of pictures of beautiful women (bijin-ga) and scenes of urban life for the Edo print connoisseur market: his prints include not only geisha, courtesans and sumo wrestlers but also street vendors and errand boys. Accounts differ on portraits of kabuki actors: by some he was among the first to paint them, by others he scornfully refused the subject.
