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A watercolour of a Chinese girl at Hong Kong wearing a headscarf and carrying an umbrella.
Charles Wirgman (1832-91) was a British illustrator who, as a correspondent for the Illustrated London News, visited Malta, the Philippines and China, before moving to Yokahama, Japan in 1861, where he lived for the rest of his life.
Wirgman was present when the British Legation (headed by Sir Rutherford Alcock, the first British diplomat to live in Japan) was attacked by ronin in 1861; his report of the incident in the Illustrated London News included several illustrations of the attack including one of the ronin attacking members of the legation.
He started publishing 'The Japan Punch', the following year; this was the first English language magazine in Japan and lasted until 1887, with its satirical style mimicked by Japanese writers. He also published 'A Sketch Book of Japan' c.1884, containing 39 tinted lithographs. As well as his journalism he taught English and Western art techniques, with pupils including the ukiyo-e artist Kobayashi Kiyochika and a young Admiral Togo.
Between 1864 and 1867 Wirgman worked in partnership with the accomplished Italian/British photographer Felice Beato (1832-1909), who was regarded as the first war photographer, in Japan. Wirgman would colour some of the sepia photographs and taught this technique to Japanese students.
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