Portrait of Kitao Jirô

This is a portrait that depicts Kitao Jirô, a physicist from Shimane Prefecture. It is thought that Kuroda painted this composition based upon a photograph. It earnestly pursues the expression of the subject, with his intellectual gaze and slight smile. In this composition, in which Kuroda accurately depicts the gradation created by the soft light from the upper-left corner on the subject's face, hair, and accessories, he demonstrates down to the fine details the pleinairisme technique that he learned while studying in France.