Strange Little Things

I've become interested in an underrated because hard to classify 19th century American artist, John La Farge. He ranges among still life, landscape, portrait, but mostly Symbolist work. He definitely qualifies for the label "visionary" in my book, but then "my book" isn't used to teach art history ;-)

But I had to share this great title for one of his paintings, The Strange Thing Little Kiosai Saw in the River. I'm sure there's a literary allusion or something going on here, but with the passage of time the allusion, if there was one, is lost, and just the suggestion of a dark story peopled by vanished Japanese characters that we will never get to know remains. How great is that?!