As an early and privileged eyewitness of Japan, Duret published an influential article “L’art japonais, les livres illustrés, les albums imprimés, Hokousaï,” in a prestigious art magazine, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, in 1882 (ill.5). In that article, Duret, a follower of Herbert Spencer, recognized Hokusai as the culminating figure of Japanese art, incarnating by himself the whole evolution of its his- tory. He declared, “Hokusai is the greatest artist that Japan has produced.”