Public data from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Learn more
Monkeys by a Stream
About the Artwork
The two monkeys in this painting are Japanese macaques. The one in front dangles its left leg over a sharply angled rock, surveying the land beyond a fast-moving mountain stream. A smaller monkey sits behind it, looking directly ahead as if it realizes it is being watched. The artist used just a few highly contrasting warm and cool colors, sweeping brushstrokes over ink washes, and loose lines to create a scene that powerfully evokes the mentally engaged state of the two animals.
Inscriptions
Inscription: 平安蘆雪寫意; Transliteration: Heian Rosetsu shai; Sealed: 魚
Provenance
?–1985: (James J. Freeman, Kyoto, Japan, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) 1985–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
The Year in Review for 1985. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 12-April 20, 1986). Animals in Japanese Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 24-December 10, 2023).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Nagasawa Rosetsu (Japanese, 1754–1799)
- Date
- c. 1796
- Medium
- hanging scroll; ink and color on paper
- Dimensions
- Overall: 164.4 x 95.4 cm (64 3/4 x 37 9/16 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- Japanese Art
- Credit line
- Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
- Accession no.
- 1985.192
More by Nagasawa Rosetsu in museum collections
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00009741
Powered by Art Trackers