Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Kyoto, Kyōto Prefecture, Japan
About Kanō Tan'yū
- Kano Tan'yu (?? ??, 4 March 1602 – 4 November 1674) was one of the foremost Japanese painters of the Kano school.
- His original given name was Morinobu; he was the eldest son of Kano Takanobu and grandson of Kano Eitoku.
- Many of the most famous and widely known Kano works today are by Tan'yu. In 1617, Tan'yu was appointed by the Tokugawa shogunate to become the shogunate's first official painter.
- Over the following years, he was given many highly prestigious commissions.
- Over the 1620s and 1630s, he created a number of large-scale works for Edo Castle, Nijo Castle, Osaka Castle, Nagoya Castle, and Nikko Tosho-gu. Prolific in a variety of painting styles, Tan'yu's most famous works are probably those he produced for these large-scale commissions.
- They are screens and panels, prime examples of the Momoyama style, depicting natural subjects such as tigers, birds and plants, in bright colors and with extensive use of gold leaf.
- The gold, often used to represent clouds, water, or other background elements, would reflect what little light was available indoors, brightening a castle's dark rooms. Tan'yu was also accomplished, however, in monochrome ink painting based on the prototypical style of the Muromachi period, yamato-e compositions in a style similar to that of the Tosa school, and Chinese style scrolls.
- His most famous yamato-e work is a narrative handscroll depicting the life of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first Tokugawa shogun and major figure in Japanese history.
- It was after this commission, in 1640, that the artist first took on the "artist name" of Tan'yu. In addition to being a highly honored and respected painter in his own right, Tan'yu was known as a collector and connoisseur of Chinese paintings.
- He made sketches and kept records of many of the paintings that passed through his studio, brought to him for authentication.
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