Memorial Portrait of Iwai Hanshiro VI. Artist: Utagawa Kunisada (Japanese, 1786-1865). Culture: Japan. Dimensions: Image: 35 1/4 x 13 5/8 in. (89.5 x 34.6 cm)Overall with mounting: 67 3/4 x 17 1/4 in. (172.1 x 43.8 cm)Overall with knobs: 19 1/4 x 67 3/4 in. (48.9 x 172.1 cm). Date: 1836.Utagawa Kunisada was one of the most prolific ukiyo-e artists of the nineteenth century. This memorial portrait (shini-e) portrays Iwai Hanshiro VI (1799-1836), the famous player of female roles in kabuki theater. Covering his shaven pate is a purple square of silk, a symbol of status worn by players of female roles since the seventeenth century. One of Iwai's specialties was performing multiple roles at the same time, and it was during one of these performances, playing fifteen roles at once, that he became ill and died.Kunisada portrays the handsome actor in a formal composition in use since the sixteenth century for memorial portraits. This painting may have been hung during the funeral or perhap