3 Woodcut Prints By Kitagawa Utamaro, Italian School, 20th Century, Italy, Japan

A triptych of elegant pen and ink drawings ,on tissue paper, depicts refined female faces inspired by traditional Japanese ukiyo-e iconography. Each sheet pairs the Eastern-style illustration with exquisite poetic compositions written in Italian, creating an evocative dialogue between visual art and classic Japanese literature. The first panel on the left, titled "Spring Song," features an Eastern-inspired portrait of a woman with a dreamy gaze, framed by natural elements and a small bird in flight. The central sheet presents a woman's face wearing a kimono decorated with the inscription "Feminine imagination and aesthetic sense," accompanied by verses by the famous poet Matsuo Bashō titled "Attraction": “I am exhausted of strength: it is time to return home: but look, a wisteria in bloom”. The third and final sheet on the right shows a female figure within a thin frame; at the top of the page is an explanatory note about the Man'yōshū—the famous 8th-century poetry anthology from which the poem titled "The Dew" is taken—structured as a poetic exchange of love verses between a man and a woman. At the bottom of the second and third sheets appears the signature of the artist Utagawa Toyokuni (1769–1825), attributing the original design to this master of Japanese printmaking rather than to Kitagawa Utamaro.