Kanō Mitsunobu (, 1565–1608) was a son of Kanō Eitoku and an influential artist of the

Kanō school The is one of the most famous schools of Japanese painting. The Kanō school of painting was the dominant style of painting from the late 15th century until the Meiji era, Meiji period which began in 1868, by which time the school had divided i ...

Japanese painting is one of the oldest and most highly refined of the Japanese visual arts, encompassing a wide variety of genres and styles. As with the history of Japanese arts in general, the long history of Japanese painting exhibits synthesis and competiti ...

Biography

Scholars disagree on the year of Mitsunobu's birth, placing it in either 1561 or 1565. The earliest record of his involvement on any major project was in conjunction with his father's commission to paint elements of

Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods. He was the and regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. He is sometimes referred as the "Demon Daimyō" and "Demo ...

's Azuchi Castle. He also worked with his father on a number of other major

castles A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble. This i ...

and palaces, including

Osaka Castle is a Japanese castle in Chūō-ku, Osaka, Chūō-ku, Osaka, Japan. The castle is one of Japan's most famous landmarks and played a major role in the unification of Japan during the sixteenth century of the Azuchi–Momoyama period. Layout Th ...

, Kyoto Gosho, and

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods and regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: ...

's Jurakudai palace. He received a commission from

Toyotomi Hideyori was the son and designated successor of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the general who united all of Japan toward the end of the Sengoku period. His mother, Yodo-dono, was the niece of Oda Nobunaga. Early life Born in 1593, he was Hideyoshi's sec ...

to paint the ceiling of the main hall of Shōkoku-ji in Kyoto with dragons. After his father's death in 1590, Mitsunobu became the head of the family and of the school. He took over the Kyoto Imperial Palace project, and continued to receive many illustrious commissions. However, in part due to his poor leadership skills and political ability, he lost many commissions and patrons to the rival Hasegawa school of painting and siblings within the Kanō school. Notably, his adopted brother, Kanō Sanraku, and his son, Kanō Sansetsu, saw a surge of new commissions and helped cement their place within Kanō school history.

Style

While a master of the fundamental Kanō school style, and that of his father, Mitsunobu expressed elements of his own preferences and skills in his paintings. The emergence of his own style was not truly observed until after his father's death in 1590 and he had more independent commissions. His color paintings of flowers, trees and similar subjects made extensive use of gold-leaf as most Kanō paintings did, but also displayed a delicate, elegant, and gentle lightness.

References

*Kaputa, Catherine (1985). "Kanō Mitsunobu". ''Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan''. Tokyo: Kodansha Ltd.

External links

Momoyama, Japanese Art in the Age of Grandeur
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Kanō Mitsunobu
Bridge of dreams: the Mary Griggs Burke collection of Japanese art
a catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Kanō Mitsunobu (see index) {{DEFAULTSORT:Kano, Mitsunobu 1560s births 1608 deaths 16th-century Japanese artists 16th-century Japanese painters 17th-century Japanese painters Kanō school