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Flowers of the Four Seasons, mid-1600s. Ascertaining the identity of the painter known as Kitagawa Sosetsu from the first half of the seventeenth century remains an elusive but fascinating task. Unlike his more versatile predecessor Tawaraya Sotatsu (died c. 1640), Sosetsu painted only byobu and hanging scroll compositions. While he did not collaborate with Kyoto's well-known calligraphers, book designers, or literary or court figures, attractive images such as appear on these byobu were popular at the time, judging from the number of pieces that survive. In this respect, while his career is shadowy, it is much like those of the many well-regarded salon painters of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in Paris whose fame and identity have moved into and out of focus over the centuries.