Kunisada Utagawa the 1st generation (Toyokuni Utagawa the 3rd generation)

Tenmei 6th (1786) born, Genji 1st (1864) died
Disciple of Toyokuni Utagawa the 1st. Kunisada was the mogul of the Ukiyoe art world at the end of the Edo period, along with Kuniyoshi and Hiroshige the 1st, it was said to be the three major artists of the same era. He was also named as Gokotei, Ichiyosai.

He became a popular painter by beautiful woman paintings and actors' pictures of a new era, and it was said that actor paintings including the "Ooatari-kyougen-no-uchi" series exceeded the teacher. It features a beautiful face with long-faced bull necked figure.
He succeeded as Utagawa party’s general and his mentor Toyokuni’s title and gained an evaluation that "beautiful paintings and actor pictures are limited to Toyokuni the 3rd (Kunisada)", recognized as the top of the same era both in name and reality.

In "So-hitsu Gojyu-san-tsugi" collaborated with Hiroshige Utagawa the 1st, the third generation Toyokuni draws characters such as Kabuki actors, and Hiroshige draws the landscape.
Along with the Samurai painting by Kuniyoshi and the landscape painting by Hiroshige, the face painting by Kunisada were also very popular.