The dance poetry drama "Only This Green" landed on the Spring Festival Gala of Nongyin CCTV, and the dancers interpreted the classical painting "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" with a graceful dance posture, which was perfect.
"A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" has caused a sensation since it was exhibited in the full volume of the Forbidden City in Beijing in 2017. This time on the stage, once again successfully broke the circle. Along with this, the debate about the painting and the mysterious origins of its author has not ceased since it came out of the circle.
《A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains》
A masterpiece that has disappeared for more than 500 years
The famous painting "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" is a masterpiece of green landscapes in the Song Dynasty, and is now recognized as the work of Wang Ximeng, a genius painter of the Northern Song Dynasty. But around this painting and its author, there are many unsolved mysteries. The mystery comes from the painting itself. Since its birth, "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" has been destined to be confusing, which can be seen from the inscription of the Northern Song Dynasty prime minister and calligrapher Cai Jing:
Qianli Jiangshan Tu Cai Jingbu Wenzheng and three years leap april 1st gift. 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 Fa himself, not half a year old, but in this way, he made progress, and Shangjiazhi, because he gave his subjects Jing, called the heavenly sergeants, and was only doing it. He revealed several elements: the painting was completed in the third year of the Northern Song Dynasty (1113), and the author was the eighteen-year-old young Xi Meng; Xi Meng was a student of the Hanlin Academy of Painting and was later summoned to the Royal Library; he gave Song Huizong a number of paintings, all of which were not good enough, but Song Huizong thought that this young man had talent, so he personally guided him; Xi Meng made rapid progress, and after half a year he gave the painting to Song Huizong, who thought the painting was good and gave it to Cai Jing. In just 77 words, the origin of the painting is basically explained, but unfortunately, the thoughtful Cai Jing did not write down the surname of Xi Mengqi. What is even more regrettable is that in the history of Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties for more than five hundred years, there is no information about this painting and its author. If you want to trace the traces of paintings in the Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties, you can only go through the paintings themselves. Judging from the information provided by the collector's seal on the painting, the painting probably flowed into the Jin Dynasty in the second year of Jing Kang (1127). Prior to that, in the first year of Jing Kang (1126), the painting collector Cai Jing was deposed one after another, and his property was confiscated and his paintings were also confiscated. The following year, the city of Kaifeng was breached by Jin soldiers, and the paintings were plundered. In the seventh year of Yuan Dade (1303), the paintings were collected and made by the high monk Pu Guang:
Qianli Jiangshan Tu Pu Guang Bao Wen Yu zizhixue years to obtain this volume, so far only a hundred times. Its kung fu is clever and secret, and there are still people who can't go through it, the so-called one return throws out a new one. In addition, its color setting is clear and the arrangement is grand, so that Wang Jinqing and Zhao Qianli should also be short-tempered when they see it. In the small scenery of ancient and modern Danqing, you can walk alone for thousands of years, and the lonely moon ear of the stars. Those who have eyes and know the voice will not be vain in their words. In the winter of the seventh year of Dade, in December, he was born in Theo Bunkan University, and Pu Guang asked the question. Pu Guang gave the painting a very high evaluation, believing that it was "a thousand years of walking alone" and was "the lonely moon of the stars", and the level of this painter surpassed that of Wang Jinqing and Zhao Qianli of the Song Dynasty. At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, after 300 years of mysterious circulation, the painting was collected by the collector Liang Qingbiao (1620-1691), who reframed the scroll and signed the "Wang Ximeng Qianli Jiangshan Map". So far, more than 500 years after its appearance, this green landscape painting has its own name for the first time - "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains", and the mysterious young painter "Xi Meng" of the Northern Song Dynasty has also been named "Wang" for the first time.
Genius teenager "Simon"
Did you really only live to be in your twenties?
In the Qing Dynasty, there were records of Wang Ximeng's "Map of a Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" in several kinds of books. In the early Qing Dynasty Song Ji's "Xipi Drafts", the reason why "Xi Meng" and his paintings have not been seen in history for a long time is explained: Xi Meng's talent is highly talented, and he has been secretly passed down by Emperor Huizong, and has been composed for many years to make color landscapes and rivers into the imperial court. He died a few years ago, more than twenty years old. After that, the "Map of a Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" entered The Great Interior and was recorded in the "Shiqu Baodi", which is a collection of Chinese calligraphy and painting bibliographies, qianlong fifty-one years (1786), Qianlong inscribed a poem at the beginning of the volume:
Qianli Jiangshan Tu Qianlong inscription Jiangshan Thousands of miles look endless, and the vitality is full of luck to god. The Northern Song Dynasty Ishizoku Shōshū Erben, and the Three Tang Dynasty Fa General Fu Duo. But the king and Zhao of the world have been rated as kings and subjects. He who does not think of himself as a man, then adjusts to who he is. There is a Qing dynasty in the new first month of the New Year, and the "Map of a Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" is regarded as a treasure for the emperor to play with and enjoy, and the Jiaqing Emperor and the Xuantong Emperor are all stamped on it. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the scrolls were lost to the people until the 1950s, when they were restored to the Palace Museum. "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" is listed as "China's Top Ten Famous Paintings", but compared to the list of "Luoshen Futu", "Qingming Upper River Map", "Fuchun Mountain Residence Map", "Han Palace Chunxiao Map", "Baijun Map", "Buyuan Map", "Tang Palace Lady Map", "Five Bulls Map", "Han Xizai Night Feast Map" and other nine picture scrolls, over the years, "Thousand Mile River and Mountain Map" can be said to be lonely and nameless, whether the original or copy is rarely seen by the public. It really caught the world's attention in 2017. In September of that year, the Palace Museum in Beijing held the "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains - A Special Exhibition of Green Landscape Paintings in Past Dynasties", which attracted great attention from the art and collection circles, and then triggered the whole people to watch. Since "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" entered the public eye, it has triggered a series of controversies. And all the doubts, in the end, almost all point to the mysterious life of the painter "Shi Meng". Indeed, in the third year of Zhenghe (1113), the 18-year-old young genius "Xi Meng" turned out to be a person, leaving a "Map of a Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" to evaporate in the world and disappear without a trace. Who is "Simon"? Why did it disappear so completely? Why is there only one work handed down from him when his technique is pure? Did he really die, as Song Jie said, shortly after he sacrificed this masterpiece? Is Song Xi talking about it, or is he seeing some historical material that no one else has seen? In recent years, although many famous artists have enthusiastically read "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains", they have never been able to give a satisfactory explanation for these mysteries. At one time, some people suspected that "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" was a forgery concocted by Liang Qingbiao, and some people questioned the authenticity of the text on the painting. After a lot of serious evidence collection, analysis and academic debate, at present, the academic circles basically believe that the "Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" is the true relics of the green landscape in the Northern Song Dynasty, but there are still different opinions on the true identity of "Xi Meng". Some scholars firmly believe that Liang Qingbiao and Song Jie lived in an era that was quite far away from the Northern Song Dynasty, and it was impossible to judge the surname of "Xi Meng" Wang based on their writings alone.
Northern Song Dynasty Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains, Collection of the Palace Museum
This "Xi Meng" surnamed Zhao
He had close ties with the Ouyang Xiu family
For the true identity of "Xi Meng", the academic community is still carefully seeking verification, but there is no shortage of bold speculation in the folk. There is an article titled "Is the Author of the Secret Revealed Wang Ximeng?" The web article of "is worth paying attention to. According to the author of the article, the reason why Cai Jing withheld Xi Meng's surname in the Pai wen was because he was a member of the clan. And this Xi Meng is most likely Zhao Shiyan, the fifth grandson of Song Taizu. The author presents a series of convincing testimonies in this regard. For example, The experiences of Xi Meng and Shi Yan are very similar. Cai Jing mentioned that Xi Meng had presented paintings to Emperor Huizong several times. According to the Southern Song Dynasty Deng Chun painting treatise "Painting Succession", Zhao Shiyan also presented paintings to Emperor Huizong of song: Shiyan hua yixianggong, long in coloring landscapes, Xuanhe chujin ten tute turned an official. Zhao Shiyan offered exactly the "coloring landscape" that Xi Meng was good at. For another example, the word "Yan" as a personal name can be understood as "the pursuit of moral perfection" or can be interpreted as "Shao continued confucian unification", which has a clear connection with the book of Mencius or Meng Keqi. And Xi Meng, literally, has the meaning of admiring, admiring, and obeying Mencius. According to the ancient custom of surnames and names as each other, with Shiyan as the name and Ximeng as the word, it is a good match. However, in the evidence, the author clearly ignores one point: The time of Xi Meng's painting was three years before Zhenghe (1113), and the time of Zhao Shiyan's painting was at the beginning of Xuanhe (1119-1125), with a gap of seven years. Of course, this flaw is not enough to completely negate the author's series of well-founded and bold speculations. Following the thinking of this online author, we may wish to continue to open our minds, if Xi Meng's surname is Zhao, if we can find a record of Zhao Xi Meng's people in the relevant literature of the Northern Song Dynasty, will it be one step closer to uncovering the true identity of "Xi Meng"?
In fact, although the history of Song Dynasty painting is unknown, if the scope of sight is expanded, there will be a gratifying discovery. Epitaphs unearthed in recent decades show that the Northern Song Dynasty did have Zhao Ximeng, and the tomb of the Northern Song Dynasty scholar Ouyang Xiu in Xinzheng, Henan Province, has unearthed an epitaph cover written by Zhao Ximeng. This epitaph cover belongs to Ouyang Xiu's grandson Ouyang Xiu. Ouyang died in the year of Shao Shengyuan (1094) at the age of Chinese New Year's Eve 7. In April of the third year of Zhenghe (1113), he was buried next to the tomb of Ouyang Xiu. His epitaph was written by his brother Ouyang Shu. The Yang cemetery in Luoyang, Henan, has also unearthed the text of the epitaph and the inscription written by Zhao Ximeng, which was written in the seventh year of Zhenghe (1117), and Zhao Ximeng's identity at that time was that of the Xingyuan Junfu Guangou Xueshi, responsible for managing local education and teaching affairs. Judging from the two epitaph materials, the time of this Zhao Ximeng's activities coincides with the "Xi Meng" in Cai Jingbao's text, and his calligraphy attainment is quite high, although the official rank is not prominent, but the social status is definitely not low, so he will be invited by the Ouyang Xiu family to write an epitaph. Is this "Xi Meng" the other "Xi Meng"? Looking forward to more information being discovered, step by step to take us to see the true face of this young genius.
Wen | Modern Express + reporter Bai Yan
(Edited by Gao Xia)