Category China Ancient Paintings

Song dynasty

Cultural relics originally belonged to the old collection of the Forbidden City.

Present situation of cultural relics in Taipei National Palace Museum

brief introduction

Silk book, color, vertical: 188.7, horizontal: 139.8 cm.

The picture shows the deep valley of Changsong, the main peak is towering, the rocks stand on the wall and the mountain springs run. Although the painter adopted the panoramic composition of the landscape works of the Northern Song Dynasty, the viewpoint of framing has been narrowed, and the steep and hard rocks are represented with a solid axe, which shows the magnificence of the landscape well and gives people a strong visual shock. Draw a pen marked with Yang. Xuanhe Chen Jia was in the sixth year of Xuanhe (A.D. 1 124), and Li Tang was about seventy years old, so it can be seen that it was his work before he crossed the south. His painting method at this time not only has the influence of Fan Kuan's painting style, but also has some new features, reflecting the evolution of landscape painting in the late Northern Song Dynasty. This picture has the gourd seal of Jia Sidao's "Yue Sheng" in the Southern Song Dynasty, the seal of "Rite, Discipline and Inspection" in the early Ming Dynasty, the seal of Liang Qingbiao in the early Qing Dynasty and the seal of Qing Dynasty, and it is recorded in the third edition of Shiqu Baodi.

The picture of Wanhe and Song Feng is inscribed on the far peak: "Huang Songxuan and Jia Chenchun, Heyang Li Tangbi." We can know that it was written in 1 124, when Li Tang was about seventy years old, and it was a work before Du Nan. In the picture, the peaks are towering and the rocks are rugged. There are waterfalls and springs between the cliffs, and white clouds float around the mountainside. From the foothills to the peaks, the pine forests are dense and lush. At the foot of the mountain, there are stones and beads, and the water is rushing. The majestic gas of nature is blowing on our faces, giving people a magnificent feeling. In the layout of Li Tang, close-up shooting highlights the main peaks and cliffs, creating an imminent visual experience. The method of cutting rocks combines the skills of Li Cheng, Fan Kuan and Guo, and uses a variety of cutting methods to represent different rocks, such as the main peak, the upper end is scraped with long nails, and the middle part is occasionally added; Use the original horse teeth below the mountainside. In addition, it can be seen that the prototypes of small axe chop and big axe chop were created later. The biggest feature of this painting is that Li Tang used the method of distinguishing, which has a great influence on later generations. Modern people are still studying and discussing it.

The Picture of Wanhe and Song Feng is the work of Li Tang in the Northern Song Dynasty Painting Academy. This painting is on the far mountain next to the main peak, and it is entitled "With Yang Bi". Chen Jia was in the sixth year of Song Xuanhe (1 124), and Li Tang has entered an advanced age. Nevertheless, the rock in this painting is still a thunderous male force. Clouds are inserted in the picture. Hills and cliffs, like an axe that has just been cut, give rocky mountains a particularly hard feeling. The white clouds on the mountainside seem to be the music of Ran Ran. On the one hand, it divides the layering in front of the mountain and behind the mountain, and also makes the picture have the effect of dense and alternating, and also makes the whole atmosphere have a soft and harmonious side, which will not make the viewer feel too oppressive because it is too dense and three-dimensional. Clusters of trees on the top of the mountain, pine forests beside the trees and looming stone paths enhance the deep emotional appeal of the picture. There is a waterfall on the left, a line hangs down and turns into a pool of water, which passes through the rock. If you hear the sound, it is really a poem that draws the sound.

It's a picture of a pine tree in the south of the Yangtze River, overlapping alum heads; In the deep valley, the clear spring runs, and the bank of the stream is shaded by shade; Along the winding ridge, there are dense pine forests, and the "Feng"-shaped pine trees sway with the wind, as if to let the viewers feel the moist cool breeze coming on their faces. Clouds gather in the ravine and slowly rise; There is a water mill under the mountain waterfall and a wooden bridge on the stream, leaving fireworks in this paradise.

In the upper left corner of the painting, the book is in the shape of a stone pillar on a distant mountain: "With the pen of Yang". This painting, together with The Picture of Early Spring and A Journey to the Western Hills, has always been called the three masterpieces of Song painting, and both paintings have the names of their authors. Almost all the paintings before the Song Dynasty had no money. Inscription on paintings began in the early Northern Song Dynasty, but it was still not common. These three paintings can be said to be the first to open the atmosphere. However, it is meaningful to look at its signature carefully: although the picture of early spring falls in the blank, the words are too small to be recognized without careful observation; On the other hand, The Journey to the West only wrote the word "Fan Kuan" among the grass, which was discovered by researchers with a magnifying glass 900 years later; And "The Map of Wanhe and Song Feng" left the money on the stone pillar, which was seen from a distance or mistaken for a pen. Regardless of the author's motivation, one thing is clear, that is, the author doesn't want his name to be obvious to the viewer. In the history of painting in China, this is the beginning of Chinese characters entering the picture, and in a broad sense, it is the prelude of China's calligraphy entering the painting field, from which the history of books and paintings complement each other and merge into one. The inscription in the Song Dynasty is just a name or a picture name, year number, season, etc. In the Yuan Dynasty, literati gradually became the protagonists of painting, so they began to write poems or inscriptions on paintings, so that viewers could understand the painter's painting intentions and have associations. But the inscription is still the second in the painting. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, they seemed to pay more attention to the writing skills, or they used words to make up for it because they felt that the painting was not enough, or they reserved blank space to write large paragraphs and draw again. Sometimes calligraphy seems to be better than painting. In short, books and paintings began to be evenly divided and integrated, and it became a matter of course that painters were good at calligraphy and poetry.

The author's composition is slightly different from other landscapes. Although it was a panoramic view, it did not highlight the main peak. The peaks are connected into a unified whole through the surrounding pine forests, and the three spatial levels of near, middle and far are natural and appropriate. The brush and ink of the whole painting are thick and simple, but full of beautiful and elegant interest. There are many white clouds on the mountainside, like Ran Ran moving. On the one hand, the layering of the mountains is divided, which also gives the picture a dense and alternating effect, and also gives the whole atmosphere a soft side, which will not make the viewer feel too depressed because it is too dense and three-dimensional. The slope stone is painted with light ink, and then painted with Jiao Mo, broken pen and moss, which has a melancholy and beautiful charm. The house in the painting is made of boundary painting, which shows that the painter has rich painting skills. Because Li Tang lived in the Song Dynasty Painting Academy, his personal achievements and influence can be regarded as the successor between the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties in the history of painting. Like the majestic momentum in this painting, it can be said that it inherited The Journey to the West from Fan Kuan. Later, famous painters of the Southern Song Dynasty Painting Academy, such as Ma Yuan and Xia Gui, painted rocks directly from Li Tang. Li Tang's brushwork of expressing the texture of stone surface is called "axe chopping", which is a major feature of his brushwork. Compared with the two masters of the previous generation, Fan Kuan and Guo, because the proportion of the main mountain is reduced and the fog is removed, the landscape looks particularly clear, which also makes the viewer feel as if he is in the present and turns out a different landscape.