In 1856 Charles Wirgman set off from London to the Far East as official illustrator and reporter for The Illustrated London News, with the intention of covering the deteriorating international relations between Britain and China. He reached Hong Kong in 1859 where he based himself for four years, making several expeditions into China and a visit to the Philippines. During these years, he filed reports to The Illustrated London News, many of which were reproduced. (A folio of over a hundred drawings done during this period were sold at Christie's Swire in Autumn 1989)
In May 1861 Wirgman arrived in Japan where he witnessed the opening up of the country to Westerners at the begining of the Meiji era. In 1862 he founded The Japan Punch which featured clever caricatures of local characters, many of which are in the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum. He continued to work sporadically for The Illustrated London News until 1887. It was only by the mid 1870s that Wirgman became confident working in oils. He remained living in Japan for the rest of his life. An exhibition of Charles Wirgman marking the centenary of his death was held at the Kanagawa Prefectural Museum and the Kobe Municipal Museum, Japan, 29 September - 24 December, 1990. The exhibition included two other oils of Mount Fuji painted from different viewpoints. For comparison see nos. 219 and 221 in the exhibition catalogue. This picture appears to be the largest known oil painting of this subject