| Recently I came across a portrait of Heinrich Bürger made when, as a secretary to Philipp Franz von Siebold, he visited Edo (now Tokyo) in 1826. This portrait is a rough sketch, and so far probably is the only portrait of him in existence. It was made by Watanabe-Kwazan (written also as Kwazan Watanabe after the western manner), an eminent artist, who, at that time, was also highly distinguished as a scholar of western thinking, a consequence of his Dutch learning. The present sketch was found in a collection of Watanabe's works owned by an old family, Kasuya by name, residing in the town of Kira in Aichi Prefecture. Watanabe's last place, Tabara, is located south of Kira beyond the Bay of Mikawa. Watanabe died there in 1841. Burger's biographic data... |
