C.H. de Villeneuve

C.H. de Villeneuve was a painter who served as an assistant to Philipp von Siebold, chief medical officer for the Dutch East India Company in Japan.

Villeneuve was accompanied to Japan in 1825 by his wife, Mimi. Though she was forced by shogunate authorities to leave the country very shortly after her arrival, in the short duration between her arrival and departure, she attracted considerable attention. Three women attached to Jan Cock Blumhoff, who resided in Dejima for a few months in 1817, were the only other non-East-Asian women seen in Japan since 1661.

References

  • Gary Leupp, Interracial Intimacy in Japan: Western Men and Japanese Women, 1543-1900, A&C Black (2003), 114.