Fujiwara Takanobu (1142–1205) was one of the leading Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese portrait

Portrait

thumb|250px|right|Portrait of [[Thomas Jefferson]] by [[Rembrandt Peale]], 1805. [[New-York Historical Society]].A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness,...

 artists of his day.

Takanobu was born in Kyoto

Kyoto

is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...

, and was the half-brother of Fujiwara Sadaie, one of Japan’s greatest poets. Takanobu specialized in nise-e

Nise-e

Nise-e , or "likeness pictures," were a style of portraiture popular in the courts and intellectual circles of Japan's Kamakura period. Court officials, poets and intellectuals, and other prominent figures, would be portrayed in such a way as to capture the essence and personality of the individual...

 (“likeness picture”) portraits, except instead of painting on small-size paper Takanobu painted on scrolls over a meter in height and width. Only three of his works have survived, the most notable is of Minamoto Yoritomo, the founder of the Kamakura

Kamakura shogunate

The Kamakura shogunate was a military dictatorship in Japan headed by the shoguns from 1185 to 1333. It was based in Kamakura. The Kamakura period draws its name from the capital of the shogunate...

 government. Takanobu's son Nobuzane

Fujiwara Nobuzane

Fujiwara Nobuzane was one of the leading Japanese portrait artists of his day.Nobuzane was born in Kyoto, and was the son of Fujiwara Takanobu. He is also one of Japan’s greatest portrait artists. Takanobu specialized in nise-e portraits. Of his works that have survived, the most notable is The...

 carried on the family tradition of painting.

External links

• Britannica article
• http://www.kyohaku.go.jp/eng/syuzou/meihin/kaiga/shouzouga/item01.htmlPortraits of Minamoto Yoritomo, by Fujiwara Takanobu, Kyoto National Museum
  Kyoto National Museum
  The is one of the three formerly imperially-mandated art museums in Japan. The museum is located in Higashiyama Ward in Kyoto. The collections of the Kyoto National Museum focus on pre-modern Japanese and Asian art....
  
  ]