Copy of "The Madonna of the Chair"(after Raphael Sanzio) 

Using a brush to paint with ink or mineral pigments on silk or paper was the traditional approach to painting in Asia. This was true in Japan as well, but after the Meiji Restoration in 1868 this technique came to be referred to as “Nihonga” to distinguish it from Western-style painting. The idea was to define a new Japanese style of painting that could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with that of the West. Kanzan, well-versed in traditional techniques, studied in Europe on a Japanese government scholarship, researching Western techniques that used light and shadow to create three-dimensionality and verisimilitude. This painting, executed in watercolor on silk, is a copy of an oil painting by the Renaissance artist Raphael. Within the circular frame, subtle layering of color is used to render the forms and three-dimensionality of the people and objects depicted. The painting clearly demonstrates Kanzan’s mastery in reproducing on silk the Italian Renaissance-era blurring effect known as sfumato.
(YATSUYANAGI Sae)