# Lovers Walking in the Snow (Crow and Heron)

**Suzuki Harunobu** (Japanese, 1725–1770)  
1764–72  
Woodblock print; ink and color on paper, with embossing (karazuri)  
H. 11 1/4 in. (28.6 cm); W. 8 1/8 in. (20.6 cm) medium-size print (chu-ban)

Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, JP2453. [The museum's record](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/45085).

## About this work

A young man and woman share a single umbrella as they walk through falling snow, one dressed in black and the other in white, which gives the print its nickname, Crow and Heron. Suzuki Harunobu led the first designers of full-colour woodblock prints, known as brocade pictures, from about 1765, and he favoured slender, delicate figures and poetic subjects. Here the white snow and garments are left as bare paper, enhanced by blind embossing that raises the texture of the paper itself.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

Suzuki Harunobu designed this in 1764–72, aged about 39. It is now at The Met in New York.

### How it was made

- **Colour woodblock print.** In Japan these were a team effort. The artist drew the design, a carver cut it into cherry-wood blocks, one block for each colour, and a printer brushed on the pigment and rubbed each sheet by hand. Full-colour prints of this kind were called nishiki-e, “brocade pictures”, from the 1760s on.

### [Suzuki Harunobu](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/suzuki-harunobu)

Japanese, 1725–1770

Harunobu was the first great master of the full-colour woodblock picture, or nishiki-e, which developed in Edo around 1765 out of privately commissioned calendar designs. Working mostly in the small chūban format, he favoured slender, youthful figures in intimate scenes, often with subtle allusions to classical poetry. In the few years before his death he produced hundreds of designs, and his delicate style shaped the work of a generation.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

## Facts

- Type: Prints
- Culture: Japan
- The artist was about 39
- Real size: about 11 × 8 in (29 × 21 cm). The 8 × 10 in print is close to life size.
- Century: 18th century
- Movement: [Ukiyo-e](https://www.ochreeditions.com/movements/ukiyo-e)
- Subjects: Couples, Men, Women, Snow, Umbrellas
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/916.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/916/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/lovers-walking-in-the-snow-crow-and-heron-met-45085).