In the early Qing Dynasty, the "Four Kings" were divided into two factions, "Lou Dong" and "Yu Shan", and Wang Jian in the "Yu Shan Sect" not only became the descendant of Dong Qichang, but also made a new idea, advocating the integration of the two sects of the north and the south, forming its own characteristics. Mr. Shan Guolin believes that Wang Jian has made great contributions to carrying forward the tradition of "Nanzong" literati painting in his creative practice by taking imitation of the ancient and antique as the purpose of combing the artistic styles of the Song and Yuan dynasties, organizing and standardizing them, establishing exemplary style styles, and carrying forward the tradition of "Nanzong" literati painting in creative practice. At the same time, he cultivated Wang Yi and Wu Li, two people with extremely high attainments in art, who are worthy of the title of "Hou xue jin liang". However, he has very few works in the aspects of the creation of the teacher's method and the sketching of Ji You, only a few works such as "Ten Scenic Albums of Yushan Mountain", and this deliberate trend of the ancient master has also had a considerable negative impact on future generations.
A brief discussion of Wang Jian's paintings
Rong Song into the Yuan, after learning Jinliang
Text/Shan Guolin
In the early Qing Dynasty, there were a variety of painting trends, including the Ancient Painting School represented by the "Four Kings (Wang Shimin, Wang Jian, Wang Yi, Wang Yuanqi)", the personality painting school represented by the "Four Monks (Hongren, Jia Ren, Zhu Yun, yuan ji)", in addition to the Jinling school represented by Gong Xian, Zou Zhe, Fan Xi, Wu Hong, Ye Xin, etc., Lan Ying's Wulin school, Luo Mu's Jiangxi school, etc. By the late Kangxi Dynasty, the "Four Kings" school of painting had achieved orthodox status in the painting world, such as Tang Dai, a disciple of Wang Yuanqi, when discussing the orthodox inheritance of landscape painting in the chapter "Painting Incidents And Hair Wei Zheng school": "Ming Dong Si Bai Yan his Fa school, the true transmission of painting, Yu Yan did not fall. I followed the three kings of Wuxia (Wang Shimin, Wang Jian, and Wang Yi), and Mr. Yu Shilutai learned from his family, and the origins are self-derived." That is, he put forward the view that the "Four Kings" were the upright style of the painting world, and Wang Yi was hired by Song Junye to paint Kangxi's "Southern Tour Map" in the thirtieth year of Kangxi (1691), and Wang Yuanqi was in the Southern Study Room in the forty-fourth year of Kangxi (1705) and served as the compiler of the "Peiwenzhai Calligraphy and Painting Spectrum", which marked that the art of the "Four Kings" was valued by the imperial family and gradually occupied the mainstream position of the painting world.
Qing Wang Yi Shui Ge Youshan Map
Zhang Geng's "Records of Paintings of the National Dynasty", written in the thirteenth year of Yongzheng (1735), records that Wang Shimin said: "Yu Da's great fool Mo Miao was poor in his early years, and in his later years he became more and more deified." The Theory of the World, the old man who is righteous and the eye of the old man, will return to justice. With the yin official to the fengchang, but indifferent to Shijin, youyou pen ink whistled yanxia, for the leader of the national dynasty painting garden." On the other hand, Wang Jian said: "Proficient in painting and imitating the ancients, all the famous paintings of the Four Dynasties are copied, and the gods of the Four Dynasties are imitated, so their brushwork is more and more ordinary, and they go straight after gu zhe, while Yu Dong and Ju are particularly profound, and they are very refreshing and serious, and they are dizzy with the atmosphere of Shen Xiong's ancient elegance, and they are sincerely the legacy of the ancestors and the guide for later study." The honorific status of the former two kings in the painting garden was confirmed. Fang Fu's "Treatise on Painting in The Mountains and Tranquilities" Yun: "The painting method of the National Dynasty, Lianzhou and Shigu are one sect, and the ancestors and grandchildren of Feng Chang are one." Lianzhou is ingeniously rendered, and there is no lack of preparation; Feng Changzuzu and Sun Duo take the great idiot faction as the law. The two sects set up a sect within the yu, and the Dharma heirs have not changed the sect style to this day." Later, Wang Shimin, Wang Yuanqi and their descendants were called the "Loudong Sect", and Wang Jian, Wang Yi and their descendants were called the "Yushan Sect".
An overview of Wang Jian's life
Wang Jian statue taken from the "Portrait of Wang Jian" page painted by the Qing Dynasty in the Palace Museum
There are some doubts about the life of Wang Jian, who is a Taicang native, a descendant of the famous Ming Dynasty writer Wang Shizhen, but whether he is a grandson or a great-grandson, there are two opinions. One is that it is a grandson, and Lord Wang Shiqing said this, quoting Wu Weiye's poem "Sending Wang Jian huangshan eight poems", mentioning Wang Jian as Wang Shizhen's "grandson". Cai Xingyi's great-grandson said that he quoted The Collected Poems of Meiqing in the Qing Baoyunlou Manuscript, Volume VII, "Sending Wang Yuanzhao Back to the Mountain Poems," and the original note was made: "Wang Shanhua, the great-grandson of Mr. Yizhou, came to Beijing occasionally, and the old Lianzhou Taishouye." Xiao Yanyi also quoted two sources in the article "Wang Jian is Wang Shizhen's Great-Grandson Kao": First, Wang Jian Shunzhi thirteen years (1656) painted the "Dream Scroll" (collected by the Palace Museum), and said to himself: "Later Wang Yueshi held a forgery to sell as an idle uncle." Xiao Zhong, also known as Wang Shilu (王士騄), was the son of Wang Shizhen's younger brother Shi Mao, and Wang Jian was Wang Shizhen's great-grandson; and Lu Shihua's "Records of Paintings and Calligraphies Seen by Wu Yue" recorded "Wang Lianzhou Linbeiyuan Xiaoxiang Chart Axis", and Wang Yaosheng said: "Brother Qi is good to dye when he is old." Wang Yaosheng was Wang Shimao's great-grandson and a cousin of Wang Jian. Therefore, Wang Jian was wang Shizhen's great-grandson.
Another problem is that Wang Jian's birth year was based on Wang Jian's biography in the Qianlong Decade's Zhenyang County Chronicle, which was passed down as follows: "Kangxi Ding Wei (1677) died in the year of eighty years." The year of birth is calculated as the twenty-sixth year of the Ming Dynasty (1598). The 540-volume Manuscript of the History of the Qing Dynasty lists the 291 art three have a legend: "Jian Zi Yuanzhao, the great-grandson of Ming Shangshu Shizhen ... Kangxi died in the sixteenth year (1677); The estimated year of birth is the same as above. However, in the previous period, Bai Qianshen and Zhang Hui wrote the article "Wang Jiansheng's Annual Examination", which made a new examination of Wang Jian's birth year, and the argument was mainly Wang Jian's "Dream Chart Axis", which was made in Bingshen (Shunzhi Thirteenth Year, 1656), and said in the title: "The remaining years have been forty-eight." The year of birth is calculated as the thirty-seventh year of the Wanli calendar (1609), and there are other sources in the text to support it, which is eleven years different from the old theory. I look forward to more information to argue which of these two statements is accurate, and at present I analyze it based on the content of the inscriptions in wang jian's works that I have seen, and put forward my own opinion.
Qing Wang Yi Mountain window sealing snow map
The earliest surviving work of Wang Jian is the Chongzhen Ten Years ding ugly (1637) xia work "Qiushan Tu Axis" (Shanghai Museum collection), which has Wang Shimin's inscription: "Xuan Zhao's painting Path walks alone in the sea, and there are many fake works, not without the sigh of fish eyes and beads." Although this comment has the intention of extending reputation, Wang Jian is already famous in the sea at that time, and it is by no means a false reputation. If he was born in the thirty-seventh year of the Wanli calendar (1609), he was only twenty-nine years old at this time, and it is doubtful whether he could have such a high reputation. In the twenty-sixth year of the Wanli Calendar (1598), he was already forty-one years old, at least twenty years old, coupled with his talent, diligence and sensitivity, and by the time he was strong, he was already famous, which was more appropriate.
Another question is who is Wang Jian's father? This matter is not explicitly stated in the history books. The Taicang Wenshi has a passage written by Gao Qi entitled "Wang Jianjia Shikao", quoting a source, that is, Wang Jiazhen's "Miscellaneous Records of Yantang Observations and Stories" ("Liehuang Xiaozhi", Shanghai Bookstore in 1982 according to the Shenzhou Guoguang Society's 1951 edition copy, page 299) recorded: "Lou Dong is prosperous, no like Langya, Taiyuan, Langya from Wang Mourning family Shao Sima And Zi Chen, Zi Zi Shi Zhen, Shi Mao, one for Nan Si Guan, one for Nan Fengchang. Shi Zhenzi Shiqi (世贞子士骐), the chief of Quan Cao (铨曹), was a member of the Fourth Generation Family. Shi Qi Zi Qing Chang, then xi is extravagant, posture and color, and the karma of the previous life is exhausted. The most complicated son, the number of the circle according to the name of the discerner, the shadow of the Lianzhou Taishou, fine painting, rough name inspection." The text also mentions the "Annals of Wu Meicun" set by Qing Gu Shishi and Gu Siyi, and the Kangxi Eight-Year Self-Unitary Article quotes Gu Siyi's annotations in the "Lou Dongqi Old Biography", pointing out that Wang Shiqi's eldest son is Qing chang Ruiting, and Wang Jiantang's uncle Wang Ruiguo is the same Ruizi generation. Wang Ruiting (Zi Qingchang) was ashamed to include him in the official historical biography because of his extravagant nature, fanaticism, and exhaustion of family property, so that he was obscured.
Qing Wang Yi Liu'an Jiangzhou Map
Wang Jianzi Xuanzhao and Yuanzhao, after the first year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1662), avoided the holy ancestor Xuan Ye and changed it to Yuanzhao, calling himself Xiangbi and the descendant of Yishan. Wang Jian was a man in the sixth year of Ming Chongzhen (1633), and in the eleventh year (1638) he was the capital of the Great-grandfather Zhenyin Zuofu, and in the fourteenth year (1641) he went out to guard Lianzhou, Guangdong, and in the sixteenth year (1643) he deposed the prefect of Lianzhou and returned to his hometown, and set up a room at the former site of The Garden, known as "Dyeing Incense", and was called the Lord of the Dyeing Incense Nunnery, who was forty-six years old at the time.
When Wang Jian was thirty-nine years old, he visited Dong Qichang in the clouds, and once remembered: "Yu Bingzinian (1636) visited Dong Wenmin in the clouds, and when he came out of the collection of the "Quehua Autumn Color Scrolls", he saw it and appreciated it, and lamented that his pen was thick and beautiful, which was beyond the dreams of future generations." ("Retreat Inscription", vol. 18) and saw Dong Yuan's collection of Dong Yuan and Juran landscape maps, which were influenced by Dong Qichang's paintings.
Qing Wang Yi Fuchun Daling Map
The Chronicle of Taicang Prefecture states: "Wang Jian was the capital of ZuoFu with his great-grandfather Zhenyin, and the official Lianzhou Taishou." It is also recorded that "Wang Jian, Zi Yuanzhao, Great-grandson of Shi Zhen, by Enyin Libu Cao, out of Lianzhou, Shi Guangdong Zhongsheng mining, Jian Li please come to power, get rid of it, return at the age of two". In view of his 1639 work "The Scroll of Beigushan" (collected by the Guangdong Provincial Museum), Wang wrote to himself: "Yu Ziyin (1638) entered the capital, and the japanese suffered from the case, and the pen and ink did not know what it was. This year, in the middle of summer, I went out to guard eastern Guangdong and reflected on the scenery of the wind and dust on the back of the horse, like a bird that had fallen out of its cage." The Sixteenth Book of lianzhou fuzhi reads: "Wang Jian, an official of Jiangnan, served in the fourteenth year of Chongzhen (1641)." In the thirteenth year of Shunzhi (1656), he wrote "Imitation of Wang MengshanShui Axis", and Zhang Xue once inscribed: "When He was in Dumen, Wang Lianzhou was Bibu Lang, and Yu and Sun Boguan Zhonghan, Lu Shudu Mingjing, and Wang Zhibu Nong returned in the morning and evening, and discussed the piano painting together." Zhiwang Jian came to Beijing at the age of forty-one in the eleventh year of Chongzhen (1638) because of Zuyin's appointment as Bibu Lang, who was one of the divisions of the Punishment Department in the Song Dynasty, and ordered the review of the central (central) and foreign (local) accounts, which had an audit nature. Bu Cao was a minor official. Bibu was abolished in the Yuan Dynasty, but the Ming and Qing people often used the name of ancient officials to take up their posts, so Zhang Xue once called Wang Jian "Bibu Lang".
At the age of forty-four, he served as the Taishou of Lianzhou. Two years later, in the sixteenth year of Chongzhen (1643), he deposed the prefect of Lianzhou and returned to his hometown. In the same year, he tried to write "Imitation of Each Family's Landscape Album" in the clouds, and he has returned to his hometown.
Qing Wang Yi Xiashan smoke and rain map
Wang Jian's wife died early and did not remarry. According to his Kangxi Seventh Year (1668) "Shanshui Axis", the inscription "Blessing on the Fifty Beginnings of the Old Relatives", the eighth year of Kangxi (1669) as the "Landscape Fan Page", the fall of the "Quasi-Gongji Old Relatives", the same year as the "Imitation of the Giant Landscape Axis", the fall of the "Like Mengxin Relatives", the Kangxi Eleventh Year (1672) self-titled "Yushan Ten Scenic Atlas", said: "The Ten Views of the Right Yu Mountain, for the style of the chennian pro-Weng painting." In the twelfth year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1673), he composed "Landscape Fan Pages", which was written "like a pro-Weng Zheng of Ru". It can be known that he has a daughter and a family, but has no heirs, and the evening scene is lonely and lonely, so he concentrates on painting things. "Sit on the futon every day and burn a pot of cypress seeds." ("Records of Imaginary Paintings and Continuations", vol. 9, "Wang Yuanzhao Imitation of Ancient Landscape and Water Scrolls", Wang Jian Ziba) Suffered a stroke at the age of seventy-seven, and still kept writing until the death of Kangxi in the sixteenth year (1677) at the age of eighty.
Wang Jian's antique art concept
In the early Qing Dynasty, Wang Shimin and Wang Jian were both directly taught by Dong Qichang, accepting his retro ideas and the theory of "Southern and Northern Sects", and further elevating the "Nanzong" paintings advocated by Dong Qichang to a new stage in their creative practice, reaching the realm of "the great achievement of the ancients, the self-emergence of the machine". Wang Jian once commented: "Paintings have Dong and Ju, just as books have Chung and Wang, and if they are given up, they are foreign." In the Weiyuan dynasty, everyone was in the right vein, and in modern times, after Wen, Shen, and SiWeng, several works of Guangling were scattered." (Wang Jian's "Painting of Dyeing Xiang'an") and Kangxi Yuannian (1662) wrote "Antique Landscape Album", with the inscription: "Song and Yuan all from the right side of the right pulse, so the Southern Sect is unique, but it is not easy to know." Regarding Nanzong as the right vein of landscape painting, Xu Dongqichang was promoted as the last master of Nanzong painters.
Wang Jian wrote in kangxi's third year (1664) "Landscape Album" (shanghai museum collection) to himself: "After painting The Dao Ziwen (Zhengming), Shen (Zhou), and Dong Zongbo, several works of Guangling were scattered. In recent times, scholars have flourished in Yu Yan, but they have not been taught by Li (Liu Fang) and Cheng (Jia Fu). Although yu this book imitates the Song and Yuan families, although they have not dreamed of the ancients, they use the meaning of taking the Fa." He was quite worried about the decline of Dong Qichang's later paintings, and expressed dissatisfaction with the fashion of Li Liufang, Cheng Jiaxuan, and others who only obtained the meaning of literati painting and failed to deeply study the essence of Song and Yuan literati paintings, which also prompted him to insist on taking the creative path of carrying forward the Nanzong painting lineage.
Qing Wang Yi imitates Wang Mengshan Water
Wang Jian served as the prefect of Lianzhou at the end of the Ming Dynasty, but was later convicted of opposing the evil government of "mining" (asking for pearls in the name of mining), but fortunately, liu Banfang, the grand sima of friendship, interceded for it, and was spared from prison and ended up with the result of being deposed and returned to China. So he was disheartened by his career. After the Qing Dynasty moved to Mingzuo, he was also reluctant to leave the new dynasty, but immersed himself in painting, studied diligently, and eventually became a generation of people. Zhang Xue once titled Wang Jian Shunzhi thirteen years (1656) to compose "Imitation of Wang Mengshan Water Axis" (the collection of the Palace Museum), saying: "Lianzhou strike county is also a strong year, Gu Pan LinQuan, wanton painting garden, the magic of pen and ink, hai nei push as the crown."
Wang Jian was able to learn from the famous masters of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, take the essence of the essence, and deeply understand, but also because he had good objective conditions.
Qing Wang Yi imitated the giant landscape map
He was born into a famous eunuch and had many ancient paintings in his family, and Jiang Shaoshu's "History of Silent Poetry" records: "Yizhou (Wang Shizhen) has collected famous traces, and the golden inscription and jade inscription (yin xie) have not reduced the hundred cities in the south; the jian has been seen for a long time, the gods have melted their hearts, and they have been appreciated as sounds, and their pens and inks are covered with a source of flow." According to the inscriptions on his paintings, it can be known that there are many famous paintings in the family collection, although some famous relics have flowed out later, but he often speculates and becomes an important resource for him to absorb ancient methods.
It is recorded that the ancient paintings in his family collection include: Zhao Zhongmu's "Xishan Yuyin", Mei Daoren's "Water Bamboo Mountain Residence", Liu Jue's imitation of Meihua Daoist's "Summer Mountain Desires Rain Map" and so on. The famous paintings he saw in Dong Qichang's home were Zhao Mengfu's "Quehua Autumn Color Picture Scroll", Dong Yuan's "Landscape Scroll", Mei Daoren's "Guanshan Autumn Ji Map" and so on. He and Tongli Wang Shimin were closely related, and in Wang Shimin's home, he saw many famous relics, such as Mei Daoren's "Yanjiang Stacked Mountains" and Huang Zijiu's "Steep Valley Dense Forest Map".
In addition, when he was in Beijing and touring Suzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing and other places, he made friends with famous public eunuchs, such as Wu Weiye, Zhang Xuezeng, Sun Chengze, Qian Qianyi, Cao Rong, Gong Dingzi, etc., and saw many ancient paintings, according to the records and self-titles, there are Dong Yuan's "Xiaoxiang Map", "Xishan Map" and "Xishan Xiaosi Map", Juran 'Xishan Long Scroll', Fan Kuan's "Peaks and Peaks Stacked Xiu Map", Jiang Guandao's "Shanshui Axis", Yan Wengui's "Landscape", Zhao Mengfu's "Water Village Map" and "Jiuxia Songfeng Map", Huang Gongwang's "Floating Lan Nuan Cui Map" and "Steep Mountain Dense Forest Map", Wang Meng's "Yunyuan Songyin Map" and "Nancun Caotang Map", Wu Zhen's "Endless Map of Xishan Mountain" and so on.
In the first year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1662), he composed the "Linsong Yuan Landscape album" twelve openings, and the postscript reads: Wang Shimin "once shrunk the original works of the Song and Yuan dynasties that belonged to Huating's former friend Chen Mingqing (Lian) into a book, and carried it in and out, thinking that it was a sleeping tour." Yu came to Nanxiang occasionally at this age, and the president of Wenshu was informed, and he saw that his fengshen chaomai, Yashan Danqing, was deeply impressed by the ancients, and Yu was given by Chen Ben because of his return to Chen Ben, and the secret in the pillow did not dare to be alone." The album includes the traces of Famous Artists such as Dong Yuan, Zhao Qianli, Zhao Mengfu, Yuan Sijia, Chen Weiyun, and Dong Qichang. From his condensed version of Linchen Lian, we can see the breadth of his ancient paintings and the depth of his ability to copy them.
Qing Wang Jian Guan Shan Qiu Ji Tu
Wang Jian has read many ancient paintings, which are deeply immersed, and the scope of imitation of ancient antiques is mainly the "Nanzong" painter proposed by Dong Qichang. He studied Dong Yuan and Ju Ran from an early age, and later received guidance from Dong Qichang and devoted himself to the Yuan Si family. Compared with Wang Shimin, Wang Shimin also belonged to the four families of Dong, Ju, and Yuan, but he was more focused on Huang Gongwang and admired him all his life, while the scope of Wang Jian's master's law was more extensive, and he also studied with the Northern Song Dynasty Li Cheng, Fan Kuan, Jiang Guandao, Yan Wengui, Hui Chong, Mi Fu and other families, and also involved the Yuan Dynasty Zhao Mengfu, Gao Kegong, Zhao Zhongmu, Chen Weiyun, Ma Wan, Zhao Yuan and other families.
Another outstanding achievement of Wang Jian is that he can integrate Zhao Mengfu, Zhao Lingyong, Zhao Boju and other families in terms of green landscapes, and establish a green landscape style that is both high-spirited and colorful, and has a thick and vigorous style of green landscapes, just as Wang Jian's title Wang Jian Shunzhi's sixteenth year (1659) "Imitation of Zhao Mengfu's Nine Summer Pine Wind Chart Axis" said: "This imitation of Zhao Wenmin's "Nine Summer Pine Wind Map" is set up with beautiful colors, transcendent charm, and both the Northern Song Dynasty's High Sage Samadhi." Greatly appreciated, Shi Gu later became quite accomplished in the green landscape and water, which was also inseparable from the instructions of his master Wang Jian. Wang Jian occasionally imitated Northern Sect painters, such as Xiao Zhao, Zhao Boju, etc., and his pen and ink were slightly strong and steep, but the thickness of the dye and the moisture of the ink color were still the foundation of Dong and Ju. From the perspective of style, he is richer and more colorful than Wang Shimin.
Qing Wang Jian imitates the landscape map of meidao people
In view of the profound understanding of the art of ancient times, Wang was able to grasp the main characteristics of each family in terms of schemas, hills, pen and ink, and rhyme, etc., refine them, and form standardized formal appearances and expressive languages, so as to achieve the state of not seeking similarities and attaining the essence of the gods. For example, in the seventeenth year of Shunzhi (1660), he wrote for Mu Ru in the "Imitation of Huang Gongwang Shrinking This Book", analyzing the art of the Yuan Sijia: "In the Yuan Dynasty, everyone is a sect and a giant, each has its own income, and becomes a family of its own. Mei Dao people gained their strength, Wang Shuming gained its thickness, Ni Yuanzhen gained its rhyme, and Huang Zijiu won its god. Ran Zijiu's style is particularly wonderful, and the authentic works are not easy to see, but The Huating Dong Wenmin and the Wulou Wang Fengchang collection are like the Heavenly Ball Arch Bi, and Yu He Xing can see it all." He had the privilege of observing the authentic works of the Yuan Sijia and had a very incisive understanding of the artistic characteristics of the four people who inherited the style of Dong and the giant painting and each had their essence. Another example is the inscription in the Kangxi Decade (1671) "Imitation of Fan Kuan Dongyuan Landscape axis": "Fan Kuan and Dong Yuan are all northern Song Dynasty people, so they use pens to show each other, Fan painting is thick, Dong painting is faint, each extreme is extreme, which can not be dreamed of after the Southern Song Dynasty."
Most of Wang Jian's works in his life are marked with imitation of a certain ancient person's name, or imitation of a certain family and a certain law, which can inherit the schema of a certain family and recombine them to form a model image; in terms of pen and ink, the normative technical elements are extracted in order to show the rich characteristic pen and ink rhyme of the famous artist. In terms of specific shapes, he is not preoccupied with details, as he said in the "Antique Landscape Album" composed in the seventeenth year of Shunzhi (1660): "Antique ten frames, do not seek similarity, talk about the painter's habits." After a long period of imitation painting and cultivation and synthesis, Wang Jian gradually formed his own pen and ink personality, and Qin Zuyong commented in "Tong Yin On Painting": "Shen Xiong is ancient and elegant, and he is both long and long." "The work of fine work can still be delicate and elegant, and it is more than enough." Although the green and green are heavy in color, and a kind of bookish atmosphere, full of pen and ink, it is a post-learning Jinliang." In the early Qing Dynasty, he and Wang Shimin became the leaders of the painting garden.
Qing Wang Jian imitates Fan Kuan shanshui