Birds and flowers of the four seasons 1590

Kanō Eitoku’s “Birds and Flowers of the Four Seasons” offers us insight into Japanese art during the late 16th century. This folding screen, painted with ink, color, and gold leaf on paper, embodies the Kanō school's decorative style that served the elite warrior class. The natural world isn’t just depicted, it's a symbolic representation of the seasons, and by extension, the cycles of life and time as ordained in Buddhist belief. The screen would have been commissioned for a castle or palace. These screens tell us a great deal about the social function of art, especially who it was made for. We can research patronage patterns and courtly life to understand more about the artwork’s original context. The political symbolism of imagery is key, the natural world here isn't neutral, it's part of how the ruling classes signaled their power. Art history isn’t just about aesthetics. It’s about understanding the historical forces that shape both the production and reception of art, always referring to economic, political, and social structures of the time.