"Unsen's landscapes are most frequently executed on paper, and often use long stringy shun brushwork in the mountains combined with very light colors. His vision of landscape painting seems heavily dependent on the late Ming and early Ch'ing paintings he must have seen in Nagasaki and in other collections throughout his travels."
"The present painting is somewhat unusual among his works for its use of silk and color. Dated to mid 1791, the inscription seems to contain a reference to Okayama prefecture and it is likely he had already arrived there when he painted this picture. The limpid colors and striking composition make this one of Unsen's most beautiful paintings."
Adams, Celeste, and Paul Berry. Heart, Mountains, and Human Ways: Japanese Landscape and Figure Painting: a Loan Exhibition from the University of Michigan Museum of Art. Museum of Fine Arts, 1983.
"The present painting is somewhat unusual among his works for its use of silk and color...The inscription seems to contain a reference to Okayama prefecture...Entitled Solitary Pleasure of the Noble Recluse, the painting represents a scholar reading by a window above a stream."
Adams, Celeste, and Paul Berry. Heart, Mountains, and Human Ways: Japanese Landscape and Figure Painting: a Loan Exhibition from the University of Michigan Museum of Art. Museum of Fine Arts, 1983.
