Toyonobu Ishikawa

A mid-Edo period ukiyo-e artist. A representative benizurie (beni-suri-e) period beauty painter. He was adopted into the family of Nukaya, a traveler's inn in Kodenmacho 3-chome, and took the name Shichibei, a common name that had been used by the family for generations. His pen names were Tanshodo and Shuha. He is said to have been a disciple of Nishimura Shigenaga, and began painting around 1740 (Genbun 5). His rich, elegant, and gentle style created an era, and influenced the next generation of artists such as Suzuki Harunobu. He was particularly skilled in brush-painted wide-width pillar paintings (beni-e) and large-format benizurie (beni-suri-e) prints colored only in red and grass green, which demonstrate his extraordinary sense of color. His representative works include "Beauty Under the Blossoms," "A Girl with a Tokiwazu Book," "Segawa Kichiji's Stone Bridge," and "Ichikawa Ebizo's Narukami Shonin and Onoe Kikugoro's Cloudy Princess Taemahime." His grave is in Shokakuji Temple (commonly known as Kayadera) in Kuramae, Asakusa, and the kyoka poet Ishikawa Masamochi is his youngest son. There is a theory that Nishimura Shigenobu was Toyonobu's former name, but this is unknown.

[Hidetake Asano]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

江戸中期の浮世絵師。紅摺絵(べにずりえ)期を代表する美人画家。小伝馬町三丁目の旅人宿糠屋(ぬかや)の養子となり、その家代々の俗称である七兵衛を名のる。号に篠堂(たんしょうどう)、秀葩(しゅうは)がある。西村重長(しげなが)門人と伝えられ、1740年（元文5）ごろより作画を開始、豊潤にして清雅(せいが)温厚な画風で一時代を築き上げ、次代の鈴木春信(はるのぶ)らにも影響を与える。とくに幅広柱絵(はばひろはしらえ)の筆彩作品（紅絵(べにえ)）、紅と草色のみで版彩色した大判紅摺絵に優れ、彼の非凡な色彩感覚を物語っている。代表作は『花下美人図』『常磐津(ときわず)本を持つ娘』『瀬川吉次(きちじ)の石橋(しゃっきょう)』『市川海老蔵(えびぞう)の鳴神上人(なるかみしょうにん)と尾上(おのえ)菊五郎の雲の絶間姫(たえまひめ)』など。墓所は浅草蔵前の正覚寺（通称榧寺(かやでら)）にあり、狂歌師石川雅望(まさもち)は末子である。なお西村重信は豊信の前名という説があるが、未詳。

［浅野秀剛］

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