This Week's Sidebar Art

Ono Ranzan (1729 - 1810) was an eminent Japanese naturalist whose botanical reference works are still cited today.

Tani Buncho (1763 - 1840) was a painter and poet who founded an eclectic school of painting that combined Japanese, Chinese, and Western influences into a single style.

I think the overall effect of this work is to lend an extraordinary substantialness to an old man who is, after all, withered and stooped with age. Mr. Ono is rock solid and massive despite his hunched back and delicate, almost fragile hands.