Introduction: Wang Ximeng is famous for the only one in his life, "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains", but do you know? Not only did he not complete the painting on his own, but he also died in the painting.
When it comes to the "Map of the Upper River of the Qing Dynasty", everyone knows that it is a very long, long custom painting depicting the prosperity of the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty.
Part of "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains"
When it comes to "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains", everyone also knows that it is a large green landscape painting, which is also very long.
But you know what? The "Qingming Upper River Map" is 6 meters long, while the "Thousand Mile River Map" is as long as two "Qingming Upper River Map", and if it is erected, it is as high as 4 floors.
Such a large picture scroll, the 18-year-old teenager Wang Ximeng actually used only half a year. And his early death as a teenager is also inseparable from this painting.
The death of the genius young painter Wang Ximeng
The Northern Song Dynasty was an era of prodigies. In addition to Wen Yanbo, Yan Shu, and Sima Shi, there is also a young genius that cannot be ignored, his name is Wang Ximeng.
Wang Ximeng is not only a child prodigy, but also mysterious, he really exists, but there is no record in the main history.
Three years after Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, the 18-year-old Wang Ximeng spent half a year to draw the famous work "Map of a Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" and presented it to Huizong for preview. Emperor Huizong was overjoyed and rewarded it to the chancellor Cai Jing. If Cai Jing obtained the most precious treasure, he mentioned the first pen of the dynasty and wrote down the inscription, and Wang Ximeng's life was passed on.
From the inscription, it can be seen that Wang Ximeng was born during the reign of Emperor Zhezong of Song. When he was more than ten years old, he entered the palace to "study painting", and after showing extraordinary talent for painting, he was recruited into the Northern Song Painting Academy, and later summoned to the library of forbidden Chinese.
Later, he was fortunate to be recognized by Emperor Huizong of Song and was personally taught by Emperor Zhao of Song Huizong, and finally became a great instrument after careful teaching. However, since then, Wang Ximeng disappeared, and it was not long before he died young.
For his death, some people say that after Wang Ximeng became famous, he went out to find the real thousand miles of rivers and mountains. But they found that hunger was all over the ground, and the people were not happy. So he painted a "Picture of Hunger and Death in a Thousand Miles" and dedicated it to Emperor Huizong, and was ordered to die.
Some people say that such a masterpiece took only half a year, consuming all of Wang Ximeng's talents and lives, so he died of exhaustion after the painting was completed.
Some people even say that Wang Ximeng loved this "Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" too much, so he escaped into the painting and became a white figure in the painting, living in it forever.
Many people are willing to believe in this poignant ending, but unfortunately these may not be true.
You should know that the reason why "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" is still glorious and new after thousands of years and has not faded is the material of this painting. These pigments were not only precious gemstones, but also materials for Daoist cultivators at that time.
We all know that the ancients used heavy metals for alchemy, what cinnabar, female yellow ore, litholite green... They are all highly toxic.
In the case of estramine, as long as 1G can poison 5 adults, not to mention other raw materials.
And these raw materials need Wang Ximeng to grind himself, at that time the refining technology was not sent, after multiple processes of refining can get a little.
It is hard to imagine how many toxic substances he needs to be exposed to every day to draw a 4-story high "Map of a Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains". This is not even if the brush is forked, when the ancients used to moisten the tip of the pen with saliva, this amount of poison is terrible to think about.
But without these poisonous ores, this colorful "Map of a Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" could not be completed.
"Frozen Age" Millennium's "Map of a Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains"
"A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" not only accommodates the artistic achievements of ink painting over the past five generations, but also inherits the tradition of green landscape painting since Li Sixun, and absorbs the strengths of the folk painting school. Painting the magnificence of the country and mountains in the form of a long scroll, and expressing the magnificence of the scenery with large green colors, this work is the ultimate in existing Song paintings.
"A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" and it has gone through nearly a thousand years and is still "as crystal clear as a blue emerald". Although some of the colors fall off, it reveals the painting techniques in it. For example, the mountain stones in the picture are first outlined with thick and light lines, and then added with rounded and soft long short strips, and the peak of the mountain is depicted with lotus leaves.
The lines used in the full picture are neither stiff nor stiff. Rendered in layers of ochre or floral mixed with light ink. The top of the mountain or the upper part of the stone is dyed with bitter green, while the ochre color is retained at the foot of the slope. After the mountain is dyed with bitter green, it is covered with thick stone green and stone green.
The thick stone green or stone green gradually fades at the junction of ochre and bitter green, and the more it reaches the top of the mountain and the top of the mountain, the thicker it becomes. Most of the stone green and stone green are alternately colored, the front of a mountain with stone green, then the adjacent mountain uses stone green, and then next to the mountain, and stone green, the relationship between the mountains and stones is very clear. The color of stone green and stone green is very pure, and quite thick, and the whole picture is gorgeous and brilliant.
Such a thick colored green landscape was very rare in both the Tang And early Song dynasties. The distant mountain love slope is ochre at the foot, and the mountain is bitter green, no longer covered with stone green and stone green. The entire surface of the water is a bitter green, and stone blue and stone green are faintly visible behind it.
The water pattern is delicate and slender with a pen, which is cumbersome and vast. The sky is colored with empty blue, and the junction of water and sky is dyed with ochre. The houses are mostly rendered in a light ochre color, and the roof is dark, and in the thick black, a deep stone blue and stone green are revealed.
The characters are mostly depicted in powder. Willow trees are written in thick ink, and then brushed in bright stone green, aquatic grass is written in black and green dots, or compounded with stone green, and all kinds of densely combined miscellaneous trees are also written in thick ink, or double hooks, or boneless, and then with bitter green dot leaves, or points with deep stone cyan.
The atmosphere of the whole picture is in the main tone of the big green, the colors are rich and harmonious, the brilliance is dazzling, and the weight is heavy. This painting is different from the ancient and clumsy beauty of Song Huizong's "Snow River Return map", and it is also different from the quaint and beautiful beauty of Zhao Boju's "Autumn Color Map of Jiangshan" in the later period, it is a splendid and brilliant beauty, and it is also a typical court aesthetic taste.
This extravagant painting, without royal patronage, I am afraid that few painters can afford it.
Can an 18-year-old really paint a thousand miles of rivers and mountains?
"A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" can be called the first long volume of ancient Chinese painting, and is an immortal masterpiece of green landscape painting, which can represent the highest achievement of the art of green landscape painting in the Huizong Dynasty. Is it just that an 18-year-old can really paint such a masterpiece?
"A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" has a huge scene and a variety of scenes, which can be described as unprecedented. In the painting, thousands of mountains and valleys compete for the majestic and beautiful show, the rivers are crisscrossed, the smoke waves are vast, and the momentum is majestic and magnificent. Between the mountains and streams, rivers and lakes, fishing village wild crossings, and water pavilion long bridges, everything is dizzying. The layout alternately adopts the composition rules of far-reaching, lofty and far-reaching, and captures different perspectives to show the victory of thousands of miles.
The 18-year-old Wang Ximeng may be relatively lacking in experience and knowledge, why can he paint such a magnificent painting as "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains"?
I think this painting should not have been completed by Wang Ximeng independently, but behind him should be Song Huizong and the excellent painters in the Royal Academy of Painting. Just as the play will be titled with the name of the main writer, others will skip it, it is very likely that the conception and painting of this "Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" have been completed by Wang Ximeng, and the excellent painters in the academy have ideas and experience guidance.
Just like the landscape in the painting that is almost completely invisible to the ink brush and dyed with color, it has never appeared before the "Map of a Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains", but it has a lot of similarities in technique with the characters, flowers and birds that have been recolored, which is likely to be developed by the people in the painting academy with reference to the technique of coloring flowers and birds.
Huizong and the Academy of Painting give comprehensive help in the overall design, color style, chapter layout, mountain and stone structure, detail processing, and use of pen and ink. Wang Ximeng specifically dealt with the complex structure of these hills and ravines under this big idea. Wang Ximeng, who is only 18 years old, is very energetic and has a focused attitude, so it is no problem to just use techniques to complete this masterpiece.
epilogue:
Wang Ximeng only has this famous work in his life, and it is also the only work in his lifetime, at the cost of life to produce a masterpiece, perhaps some people will think that Wang Ximeng is too stupid, but there are always fools in the world to do it.
If you have the opportunity to see this masterpiece with your own eyes, you will find the beautiful scenery of the mountains, the high cliffs and waterfalls are within easy reach, and the long bridge of the house is within reach... If you look closely, the painting will also reflect the unique luster of the jade, highlighting the heritage and charm of chinese cultural treasures.
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