16 花鳥風月、狩野永徳♪

1543年2月16日は、安土桃山時代の絵師、狩野派の代表的な画人であり、日本美術史上もっとも著名な画人、狩野 永徳の生まれた日♪

花鳥風月

永徳が最初に歴史の記録に登場するのは、「言継卿記」、ここに狩野元信が孫を連れて将軍・足利義輝に拝謁したと記録されていて、この「孫」が当時10歳の永徳といわれている♪

永徳は狩野派（室町時代から江戸時代まで日本画壇の中心にあった画派）の棟梁として、織田信長、豊臣秀吉という天下人に仕え、安土城、聚楽第、大坂城等の障壁画を制作した♪

唐獅子図聚光院障壁画（国宝） 

檜図屏風（国宝）

洛中洛外図（国宝） 

永徳といえば「唐獅子図」や「檜図」のような雄大なスケールの豪快な作品がよく知られるが、細部を緻密に描写した「細画」も巧みだった。現存する代表作の1つである上杉本「洛中洛外図」↑　は、彼が細密描写にも優れた技量を備えていたことが確認できる。

Kanō Eitoku (February 16, 1543 - October 12, 1590) was a Japanese painter who lived during the Azuchi–Momoyama period of Japanese history and one of the most prominent patriarchs of the Kanō school of Japanese painting.

Born in Kyoto, Eitoku was the grandson of Kanō Motonobu (1476–1559), an official painter for the Ashikaga shogunate. He was recognized for his artistic talent at a very young age. Under Motonobu's guidance, he developed his grandfather's style, which had influence from Chinese painting.

Collaborating with his father Shōei (1519–92), Eitoku painted the wall panels of the abbot's quarters in Jukō-in, a subtemple of the Daitoku-ji Zen monastic complex in Kyoto.

During his lifetime, Eitoku's patrons included Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. His standing screen, sliding door, wall, and ceiling paintings decorated Nobunaga's Azuchi castle and Hideyoshi's residence in Kyoto and Osaka castle. Contemporary accounts indicate that Eitoku was one of the most highly sought-after artists of his time, and received many wealthy and powerful patrons. Maintaining the preeminence of the Kanō School was not merely an artistic feat, but an organizational and political one also. Eitoku was able to secure a steady stream of commissions and an efficient workshop of students and assistants, and at one point successfully intercepted a warlord's commission of the rival Hasegawa studio.