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Eitoku was the son of [[Kano Shoei|Kanô Shôei]] ([[1514]]-[[1562]]) and carried on the [[Kano school|Kanô school]] of painting as established by [[Kano Masanobu|Kanô Masanobu]] ([[1434]]-[[1530]]). He has been described as "the most celebrated painter of his time"<ref>Sasaki. p648.</ref>, and is indeed celebrated today as one of the greatest painters of the [[Azuchi-Momoyama period]].

Eitoku was the son of [[Kano Shoei|Kanô Shôei]] ([[1514]]-[[1562]]) and carried on the [[Kano school|Kanô school]] of painting as established by [[Kano Masanobu|Kanô Masanobu]] ([[1434]]-[[1530]]). He has been described as "the most celebrated painter of his time"<ref>Sasaki. p648.</ref>, and is indeed celebrated today as one of the greatest painters of the [[Azuchi-Momoyama period]].

Eitoku was likely tutored at a young age by his talented grandfather [[Kano Motonobu|Kanô Motonobu]] ([[1476]]-1559), who introduced him to [[Shogun|shôgun]] [[Ashikaga Yoshiteru]] in [[1552]]. In [[1566]] he produced a number of paintings for the Abbot's Quarters of the [[Jukon-in|Jukôn-in]] in the [[Daitoku-ji]]. He was contracted by [[Oda Nobunaga]] to produce all the wall paintings (''shôhekiga'') for [[Azuchi castle]] around [[1578], and afterward produced works for the [[Jurakudai]] and [[Osaka castle]] for [[Toyotomi Hideyoshi]], as well as for the [[Kyoto Gosho|Imperial Palace]].

Eitoku was likely tutored at a young age by his talented grandfather [[Kano Motonobu|Kanô Motonobu]] ([[1476]]-[[1559]]), who introduced him to [[Shogun|shôgun]] [[Ashikaga Yoshiteru]] in [[1552]], and by his father Kanô Shôei. In [[1566]], alongside his father, Eitoku produced a number of paintings for the Abbot's Quarters of the [[Jukon-in|Jukôn-in]] in the [[Daitoku-ji]], as a commission for [[Miyoshi Yoshitsugu]], steward of the [[Hosokawa clan]]. Though Shôei was still head of the school at this time, Eitoku was very much a rising star, and was given some of the more important and prominent sections of the space to decorate. In these paintings and other works, strongly informed by those of his father and grandfather, Eitoku innovated in various ways, creating new distinctive elements of style which would come to define, in part, Momoyama period art. One of these innovations was the placement of heavy tree trunks not where they would echo or blend in with the wooden posts of the architecture, but in boldly different parts of the composition; other compositional methods were used to imply a deeper space than previous paintings had, drawing the viewer in.

Eitoku, like all top-level Kanô artists, worked alongside a number of pupils and other fellow artists, completing works as an atelier or workshop, despite the works being signed only by the master. Even so, it is said that he found himself so busy with these commissions that he no longer had the time to produce the kind of detailed works he was once known for; a highly detailed ''[[rakuchu-rakugai-zu|rakuchû-rakugai-zu]] [[byobu|byôbu]]'' ("Scenes In and Outside the Capital Screen") by Eitoku was given as a gift by Oda Nobunaga to [[Uesugi Kenshin]] in 1574. In order to better accommodate the large and numerous compositions now expected of him, Eitoku developed a new style and painting method using great bold strokes and sometimes brushes made of straw rather than hair.

Eitoku was commissioned by [[Oda Nobunaga]] in the 1570s to produce all the wall paintings (''shôhekiga'') for [[Azuchi castle]], and afterward produced works for the [[Jurakudai]] and [[Osaka castle]] for [[Toyotomi Hideyoshi]], as well as for the [[Kyoto Gosho|Imperial Palace]]; commissioned flowed in from a number of daimyô as well.

Eitoku died suddenly in 1590 and his unfinished projects were completed by his son [[Kano Mitsunobu|Mitsunobu]], though it was [[Kano Sanraku|Kanô Sanraku]], a pupil of Eitoku's who was not a blood relative, who succeeded him as head of the school.

 

 

Eitoku died suddenly in 1590 and many of his unfinished projects were completed by his son [[Kano Mitsunobu|Mitsunobu]], though it was [[Kano Sanraku|Kanô Sanraku]], a pupil of Eitoku's who was not a blood relative, who succeeded him as head of the school.

==References==

==References==

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*Sasaki, Johei. "The Era of the Kano School." ''Modern Asian Studies'' 18:4 (1984).

*Sasaki, Johei. "The Era of the Kano School." ''Modern Asian Studies'' 18:4 (1984).

[[Category:Artists and Artisans]][[Category:Sengoku Period]]

[[Category:Artists and Artisans]][[Category:Sengoku Period]]