Kano Naganobu · 1577–1654
Kano Naganobu
Kano Naganobu was a painter of the Kano school (Edo Kano) active from the Azuchi-Momoyama to the early Edo period. The fourth son of Kano Shoei, with Kano Eitoku as an elder brother, he is known as the creator of the National Treasure Merrymaking under the Cherry Blossoms screens.
Kano Naganobu was born in 1577 (Tensho 5) as the fourth son of Kano Shoei. His elder brothers included Kano Eitoku. Because he was born late in Shoei's life, he was younger than his nephews Mitsunobu and Takanobu. He first went by Genshichiro or Saemon, and his art name was Kyuhaku. He is presumed to have learned painting from his father and Eitoku from a young age.
After the deaths of his father and Eitoku, he is thought to have studied under his second elder brother Soshu and then followed Mitsunobu, whose influence he absorbed. Some scholars also point to influence from Hasegawa Tohaku and the Hasegawa school. He later became an Edo Kano painter and the founder of the Okachimachi Kano family, one of the omote-eshi (outer painter) houses serving the shogunate. He died in 1654 (Joo 3).
He is known as the creator of the National Treasure Merrymaking under the Cherry Blossoms screens, regarded as a masterpiece of Momoyama-period genre painting.
