During the reign of Emperor Huizong, the academy often held propositional examinations to examine the artist's skills and ingenuity, and the questions were often a poem that meant eternity, such as "Deep Mountain Tibetan Ancient Temple", "Stepping on Flowers and Returning horseshoe incense" and so on.
On this day, the academy will hold an examination again, and Huizong will personally preside. The painters came to the painting academy early, laid out paper and ink, and showed their talents.
When the examiner slowly opened the scroll of the examination question written by Huizong in thin gold, the seven words "selling restaurants by the bamboo lock bridge" appeared in front of everyone's eyes, everyone looked at this topic, they all made it difficult, bamboo forest, small bridge, restaurant are good at painting, but how to express a "lock" word?
After starting to paint, some painters wrote out clusters of green bamboo, branches and leaves, so as not to be angry; some painters painted small bridges in the boundary, extremely elegant; some painters painted a dangerous building, during which there were shops selling liquor, and there were drinkers who were staggered, so they were not busy; some painters frowned and were carefully tasting the true meaning of the painting.
Only to see one of the painters, with a light look and a simple demeanor, he first drew a stream of water, winding around, hidden or hidden. Then draw a sleeping bridge on the creek, and then write a lush bamboo forest on the side of the bridge, and in the depths of the bamboo forest, there is a wine curtain waving in the wind. The whole painting is brushed, the realm is suddenly born, and the meaning of the word "lock" is cleverly embodied.
After seeing it, Huizong greatly praised the painting, believing that this painting could best reflect his artistic interest, that is, the virtual reality was born and was intended to be outside the image. This painter is Li Tang, which is also the most comfortable time in his life.
Wind map of The Southern Song Dynasty Li Tang
This painting is composed by Li Tang when he was in the Northern Song Dynasty Painting Academy, and the picture depicts the lush hills and mountains, the cliffs are like chips, the rock waterfalls are flying, the clouds are reflected in the sky, the green cliffs are pine, the depths are deep, the smoke is green, and the wind is full of sounds. This is a great relic of the Northern Song Dynasty with an annual model from the National Palace Department in Taipei, and it is the northern style landscape before Li Tang's southern crossing to Lin'an, from which the influence of Fan Kuan can be seen.
Li Tang was born in what is now Mengzhou, Henan, the character Xi Gu, in his early years of poverty, to sell paintings for a living, this "Guan Mei Reading Map" is a portrayal of his life in this period:
Guan Mei reading figure Southern Song Dynasty Li Tang
In the painting, the branches of the plum tree are dry and vigorous, the dead vines are entangled, the flowers are burning, the snow is blooming, and there is a gentleman under the plum tree who is reading plums. In the whole painting, the plum tree occupies an absolute subject position, which shows the painter's integrity of not being afraid of hardships and dangers and striving to be strong.
Li Tang learned to paint, and initially took Jing Hao and Fan Kuan as his ancestors, and this "G Fan Kuan Xi Shan Solo Fishing Map" is one of the representatives:
G Fan KuanXi Mountain Solo Fishing Figure Southern Song Dynasty Li Tang
In the painting, the distant mountains are passing, the clouds are steaming, and the painter uses raindrops and axes to paint layers of mountains, mountains with thousands of rocks, and a lonely hermit fishing under the pine trees on the shore.
Li Tang studied the ancients, but did not stick to the ancients, he went deep into life, painted some works that expressed the lives of the people at the bottom, and "Burning Ai Tu" is one of the representatives:
Southern Song Dynasty Li Tang
The picture depicts the ancient Scene of Langzhong treating the disease with Ai. A thin old man was naked, his mouth was open and he was shouting in pain, and there were two burning wormwood on his back, and behind him Langzhong bent down to burn, with a serious expression.
Li Tang was also good at painting cattle, such as "Cow Herding", which is both full of childlike fun and reflects the life at that time.
Cattle Herding Figure Southern Song Dynasty Li Tang
The change of Jingkang was a turning point in the fortunes of the Song Dynasty and a turning point in Li Tang's life, and in the face of the fall of his homeland, Li Tang, who was in the year of Huajia, decided to follow Emperor Gaozong to Lin'an to avoid the disaster of war. Along the way, he witnessed the miserable scene of the former prosperous Northern Song Dynasty homeland starving and dying under foreign rule.
In the Taihang Mountains, Li Tang encountered a group of robbers, and when the thieves ripped open his luggage and prepared to make a fortune, they found that among the layers of rags and parcels were several tubes of paint and a few pieces of paint. Only one person stayed because he was also good at Danqing, and this person was Xiao Zhao, under the guidance of Li Tang, a new star in the Southern Song Dynasty painting world was slowly rising.
Like Xin Shuyi, Yue Fei and others, Li Tang, who finally arrived in Lin'an after all kinds of difficulties and dangers, was also a staunch supporter of the Northern Expedition, for which he painted a number of works showing the recovery of lost land and not colluding with the surrender faction, such as "Ce Wei Tu", "Jin Wen Gong Restoration Map", "Wen Ji Gui Han Tu" and so on.
Cevitu Southern Song Dynasty Li Tang
"Cevitu" is to borrow the story of Boyi Shuqi who is not Zhou Su to show his strong character of not being with foreign races and not with the surrender faction. In the picture, Bo Yi and Shu Qi are sitting on a slope between the cliffs, Bo Yi is holding his hands on his knees, his eyes are bright, and he looks firm and composed; Shu Qi leans forward and shows his willingness to follow. Bo Yi and Shu Qi were both clean-faced, physically thin, and physically tortured by living in the wild and filling their hunger with wild vegetables, but mentally they were not trapped and overwhelmed.
After recovering the hopelessness of his homeland, Li Tang sent love to the landscape and painted many works on the theme of fishing and hidden, such as "Qingxi Fishing Hidden Map", "Autumn Forest Guanquan Map", "Haoliang Autumn Water Map", "Jiangshan Small Scenery Map" and so on.
Qingxi Fishing Hidden Map Southern Song Dynasty Li Tang
The picture depicts the post-rain scenery of the mountainous area around Qiantang, the heavy brush is thick, the slope mud is wet and green, and the nearby mountain stones are painted with large axes, which is the characteristic of Li Tang.
Haoliang Autumn Water Diagram Southern Song Dynasty Li Tang
The picture depicts the scenery of Haoshui and Pushui in Fengyang County, Anhui Province. Several large dense trees dominate the picture. The tree uses the leaf sandwich method, light ochre color, revealing a strong autumn meaning. Dashi uses an axe to split the shaft, outline the strength, the structure is rigorous, the strength is sharp, and the texture is quite visible. Li Tang's portrayal of autumn water is particularly powerful, and makes the stiffness of mountain stones contrast with the softness of water waves. The whole picture shows a rich late autumn scene.
Small scenery of Jiangshan Southern Song Dynasty Li Tang
From the right of the picture is a wide water surface, a few sailboats drum sail forward, the river bank extends gently backwards, gradually rising, the mountains and rocks are gradually more, the trees are lush, the trails are looming in the mountains, and there are houses and houses looming among the trees on the gentle slopes; the left side of the mountain is getting higher and steeper, and finally stays on the edge of the picture. Between the mountains, the boardwalk is built according to the mountain, the villa villa, the monk's house Taoist temple looms on the mountainside; the mountain springs, the lower pool, the boat is on the water. On the upper right of the picture is a distant mountain and wild crossing, the landscape is clear, and the environment is peaceful and quiet, forming a picture of a quiet and natural pastoral landscape.
Li Tang lived for more than eighty years, and his life was at the turn of the two Song Dynasties, he witnessed the Northern Song Dynasty's Xuanhe Taiping, but also experienced the Chaos of the Jin People going south and destroying their lives; he longed to recover his homeland, but he did not go with the surrender faction; he pioneered the painting method of axe splitting, ranking first among the four families of the Southern Song Dynasty; his life was like a hermit who fished alone in the streams and mountains, like the pine wind on thousands of rocks and valleys resounding through the painting world.