Sketch Copy of Natural Disasters, from the Seven Fortunes and Misfortunes

after 1773

Sketch Copy of Natural Disasters, from the Seven Fortunes and Misfortunes, after 1773. Handscroll; ink and color on paper; 34 x 1714.5 cm (13 3/8 x 675 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1993.132 This unmounted handscroll is a copy of the first of a three-scroll set painted by Maruyama Ōkyo (1733–1795) for Buddhist monk Yujō (1723–1773). It depicts people's unfortunate encounters with forces of nature from wind to beasts. Ōkyo's realistic, contemporary imagery was meant to evoke a sense of recognition and empathy in viewers, shocking them into avoidance of possible punishments. Notations that appear throughout the scroll indicate colors and other details of the original painting.