Kano Tsunenobu

Born Kyoto, 1636; died Edo [now Tokyo], 1713.

Eldest son of Kano- Naonobu. After his father’s death in 1650, he became head of the Kobikicho- line of the Kano- school. In 1704 he received the honorary title of ho-gen (Eye of the Law) and in 1709 the most coveted title of ho-in (Sign of the Law). He was buried at Honmonji, a temple in the Ikegami area of Edo (now Tokyo).

Tsunenobu’s career was dominated by commissions for screen-and-wall paintings during rounds of construction at the imperial palace in the Jo-o- (1652–5), Kanbun (1661–73), Enpo- (1673–81) and Ho-ei (1704–11) eras . During the last such round, he was commissioned to paint Chinese Worthies and Sages on sliding door panels. Paintings of this Confucian subject had been a standard part of the decoration of the palace since antiquity, and examples by Tsunenobu’s grandfather Kano- Takanobu (1571–1618) survive at Ninnaji, Kyoto. The fact that Tsunenobu received this prestigious commission indicates his supreme status in the Kano- school at that time. Among Tsunenobu’s surviving works, the best known is Phoenix and Paulownia (Tokyo, U. F.A. & Music), which reveals his adherence to the stylistic precedents laid down by his more famous uncle, Kano- Tan’yu-. Like Tan’yu-, Tsunenobu created numerous sketches of famous paintings, collectively known as Tsunenobu shukuzu (‘Tsunenobu’s connoisseur sketches’).

Melissa McCormick, et al. "Kano-." In Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online, http://www.oxfordartonline.com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/subscriber/article/grove/art/T045702pg14 (accessed May 8, 2012).