Studies in Jesuit art in Japan

This dissertation examines Jesuit art production in Japan from the period between the late sixteenth century and the early seventeenth century. The project of such art production was initiated by Italian Jesuit Alessandro Valignano, and supervised by Italian painter Giovanni Niccolo during the Jesuit presence in Japan, which began in the latter half of sixteenth century and lasted until 1614. The center of production of this type of art was the workshop adjunct to the Jesuit seminary, where Niccolo trained about a dozen students with European painting techniques, such as chiaroscuro, foreshortening, modeling and linear perspective. The discussion is centered on Christian paintings and a selection of printed images produced in Japan by Niccolo's students. By examining the formal characteristics of these works in comparison with their European sources, this dissertation views Jesuit art in Japan as part of a sequence of artistic products and practices brought to Japan by Jesuit missionaries and European traders. At the same time, the discussion argues that these works deserve to be regarded independently because of their unique origin, system of production, and history. Chapter One provides an overview of scholarship on the field and makes the specific intervention of this dissertation clear. The discussion focuses on the problem of so-called Nanban art, the term with which Jesuit artworks in Japan have been labeled. Chapter Two discusses the founding and operation of the Jesuit seminary and art workshop. A Madonna and Child and a Salvator Mundi along with twelve paintings framed utilizing techniques from traditional Japanese craftsmanship are discussed to illustrate stylistic features characteristic of Japanese students at the seminary. Chapter Three provides a historical outline for the arrival of European visual images, which functioned as sources for the Jesuit art production in Japan. Chapter Four looks closely at two paintings of Our Lady and the Fifteen Mysteries as case studies. Drawing on primary sources, including Jesuit letters and reports, as well as the relationship between the art production in question and European sources, this dissertation challenges conventional views of the Christian art produced in Japan during the period in question in order to provide a new, art-historically based perspective, on the first encounter between Europe and Japan.