Utagawa Hiroshige (1797 to 1858) was a Japanese printmaker from Edo, now Tokyo, who became the last major master of ukiyo-e, the woodblock art of the floating world. After studying under Toyohiro, he shifted in the 1820s from actors and beauties to landscapes, producing famous series such as the Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido and Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji. His prints used bold colour, sharp perspective and close-up framing that made ordinary places feel dramatic. In the late nineteenth century, European artists in the Japonisme trend, including Monet, Whistler and Cezanne, studied his work, and Van Gogh copied some of his prints.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.