From the beginning, one of the most important subjects of ukiyo-e prints was the beautiful women of the Floating World, with their gorgeous kimono and elaborate hairstyles. Paintings and prints on this theme were known as bijin-ga, “Pictures of Beauties.” The most frequent subjects were the elegant courtesans ¬who were not only beautiful but extensively trained in traditional arts such as poetry, calligraphy, and painting. In addition to full-length and half-length portraits of beautiful women, artists of the 1790s produced dramatic, close-up bust portraits, sometimes with glittering mica added to the background color to set off the face of the beauty.