Landscape
16th century
Classification
Painting
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Accession Number
F1904.365
Tags
About this artwork
To 1904
Art Historical Context
This evocative landscape painting, attributed to the renowned Kano Motonobu (1476–1559), offers a window into the refined aesthetics of Japan’s Muromachi period (1333–1573). As a master of the influential Kano school, Motonobu helped shape a distinctive style that blended Chinese ink-painting traditions with native Japanese sensibilities. Created in the 16th century as a kakemono, or hanging scroll, the work would once have been displayed in a temple alcove or refined domestic setting, inviting quiet contemplation. Motonobu’s landscapes typically employ fluid brushwork and subtle tonal gradat...