On September 15, 2017, the Forbidden City was crowded, and people lined up for four or five hours just to witness the works of an 18-year-old.
The staff is carefully unfolding the scroll
Because it is so rare that this painting can be exhibited, the Forbidden City has only exhibited it 4 times in a hundred years.
So until the end of the exhibition, when the paintings were about to be returned to the library, the audience waited in line until 12 o'clock at night...
What can make the audience so obsessed is "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains", and the story behind "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" is too legendary.
The whole volume of "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" is 1191.5 cm long
In April 1113, the 18-year-old painter Wang Ximeng worked day and night to complete an incomparably difficult task - to paint for the teacher.
His teacher was none other than Emperor Huizong of Song, who loved literature and art more than he loved Jiangshan.
In order to widely attract the world's literary and artistic youth, Song Huizong also set up a court painting academy to recruit painting talents in the form of "art examination", and he personally wrote the question: "Stepping on flowers to return to horseshoe incense" and "Deep Mountain Tibetan Ancient Temple". For a moment it was difficult for everyone.
Part of the "Listening to the Qintu", created by Emperor Huizong of Song, is now in the Palace Museum in Beijing
At that time, the teenage Mao child Wang Ximeng also participated in the selection, but unfortunately failed, but Song Huizong saw the pearls and felt that he was extremely talented, so he "broke the rules" to attract him to his subordinates and personally instructed Wang Ximeng to paint.
Painting site of the academy
At the age of 18, Wang Ximeng decided to present paintings to his teacher, and after half a year of hard work, the painting "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" was finally completed.
Part of "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains"
As the picture scroll slowly unfolded, Song Huizong Longyan was overjoyed, only to see the undulating peaks, rivers and rivers, mountain villages and wild cities, fishing boats and passenger boats dotted among them, far mountains and near water, and every painting was undefeated.
The leaves have light and shades
The water of the Long Bridge River has undulating waves
Character interspersed active in the studio▼
Or leisure and entertainment, or hard work▼
Every detail is hidden, and although the fisherman on the boat is not clear, the form of casting the net is so delicate. ▼
Even the details of ships with different cargo loads and different draft depths are depicted. ▼
The whole painting is imposing and continuous. It can really be said that "there are thousands of miles at hand, and it is interesting to look closely."
As a "big man in the literary and art circle", Song Huizong had never seen any famous paintings, but after seeing the painting of his apprentice, he was still deeply impressed.
Isn't this his ideal splendid river and mountain? It is the pinnacle of Chinese green landscape painting.
"A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains", hidden in the Palace Museum. The full volume is 51.5 cm long and nearly 12 meters wide
Cai Jing, the prime minister known as the "first calligrapher of the Northern Song Dynasty", was also full of admiration after seeing the scroll, so as soon as Emperor Huizong of Song was happy, he rewarded Cai Jing with the "Map of a Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains".
"The first calligrapher of the Great Song Dynasty, with the first Jiangshan map of the Great Song Dynasty, absolutely!"
It is precisely because of this that there is an inscription of Cai Jing on the current "Map of a Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains", which restores the background of Wang Ximeng's paintings at that time.
"The three-year leap year of zhenghe was given on April 8. At the age of eighteen, Xi Meng was a disciple in painting, and was summoned to the forbidden Chinese library, and several paintings were dedicated, but they did not work. Knowing that his nature is teachable, he instructed him, and taught him the Dhamma himself, not more than half a year old, but in this way he tried to advance. Shangjiazhi, because he gave the subject Jing, said that the world's corporal was just doing it. ”
Cai Jing's inscription on "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains"
And this is also the first time that Wang Ximeng's name appears in a long volume of history, although Cai Jing is a traitor, without his inscription, this talented teenager in history will probably be dusted forever. There is no record of Wang Ximeng in the historical records, and he has become the only talented teenager in the history of Chinese painting who has been famous for a painting for thousands of years.
In the painting, The name of Xi Meng appears for the first time
After the painting was presented, Wang Ximeng disappeared and his whereabouts are still a mystery.
Portrait of Wang Ximeng, painted by Su Wen
Presumably, when Song Huizong looked at the paintings of ai disciple, he hoped that the Great Song would be like the one depicted in this "Map of a Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains", with splendid rivers and mountains, stretching endlessly.
Thirteen years later, during the Jing kang rebellion, Emperor Huizong of Song, who was obsessed with art and neglected government affairs, did not protect Jiangshan.
The traitor Cai Jing was also exiled and starved to death at the Chongjiao Temple in Tanzhou. The mountains and rivers are broken, the rain hits the duckweed, and only this painting has been handed down, which makes people feel sorry.
Later generations praised Wang Ximeng's "Map of a Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" that eighteen years old is a golden age of painters, the older years are less mentally energetic, the younger years are not experienced, the older ones, the younger ones, the younger ones, there will be no "Thousand Mile Rivers and Mountains Map". Unfortunately, as one of The Ten Famous Paintings in China and the treasure of the Palace Museum, every exhibition of "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" is extremely rare. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, it has only been exhibited in full volume form once in 2017.
Because of the use of silk as the carrier and the use of mineral pigments, after thousands of years, as long as the picture scroll is opened, it is easy to damage the original appearance of the painting, beautiful and fragile.
Mineral pigments used in "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains"
Source: The Essence of Sinology and the Art of Living