Since the Tang Dynasty produced a Yan Zhenqing, the "Yan Body" has gained a firm foothold in the calligraphy circle for a thousand years.
In later generations, most of those who have become masters have taken oil from Yan's body, and among them, those who have obvious achievements often benefit from Yan Zhenqing's mature "Yan Qinli" and "Yan Family Temple", but "Many Pagodas" in his prime.
Why?
Let's first look at these two calligraphy masters -
1. Cai Xiang
Cai Xiang was a famous calligrapher of the Northern Song Dynasty, ranking among the four families of the Song Dynasty (Su Huang Mi Cai). He was the oldest of the four, but he was last, but even so, he had surpassed most of the great Song scholars in status.
Several members of the Song family, except for Mi Fu, who was more arrogant, were more polite, such as Huang Tingjian, who said that Su Shi was the first of this dynasty; while Su Shi said that Cai Xiang was the first of this dynasty.
Cai Xiang's calligraphy inherits more than it plays, and belongs to the traditional skill type. And his skill mainly comes from the study of Yan Zhenqing.
From the inscription "Many Pagodas" to the inkblot "Self-Confession", Cai Xiang has dabbled in everything and can be described as a die-hard fan of Yan Zhenqing.
Of course, as a member of the Northern Song Dynasty, Cai Xiang, like many people of the same generation, took the fifth generation of Yang Ning's style, he took Yan Kai as the foundation, exerted it, and finally wrote a personal atmosphere.
2. Dong Qichang
Although Dong Qichang appeared in the late Ming Dynasty, he absorbed many families, swept through many predecessors, and became one of the most commendable calligraphy masters of the Ariake generation- well, modestly.
For most calligraphy enthusiasts, Dong Qichang is inspirational, because legend has it that he wrote poorly at first, and then he was stimulated by the exam, and then he was angry and practiced, and finally became a talent.
And the first post he tried to write after he became angry was Yan Zhenqing's "Many Pagodas", and within two years of writing, he felt that he had surpassed Wen Zhengming and surpassed Zhao Mengfu.
Then he skipped the Tang Dynasty and went to the Jin Dynasty, and as soon as he touched the Erwang Xingcao, he made the Xingcao look like it was in the clouds.
However, as soon as he wrote Xiao Kai, he exposed his "origin", and in the "Thousand Character Text" he wrote in his later years, he casually swiped and pulled, all of which were crackling "Many Pagodas" -
After Dong Qichang, xueyan has achieved, Liu Yong, He Shaoji, Qian Nanyuan, Tan Yanmin... However, the more later, the heavier the traces of Yan, the lighter his own taste, and when he arrived at Hua Shikui, he almost became the spokesperson for the cottage version of Yan body.
The root cause is only because the latecomers took more of the calligraphy of the mature period of Fa Yan Zhenqing, and their personality was too obvious, so once they entered the situation, they could not escape for life; on the other hand, Cai Xiang and Dong Qichang, because they started from "Many Pagodas", Yan's characteristics were not obvious, and the strokes were exquisite and the qi was complete, which was an excellent model for getting started. Of course, more importantly, you can still come out when you enter the door...