Qinqi calligraphy and painting, known as the four arts of the composition room in ancient times, is a well-praised entertainment activity of the literati and inkers, the ancients believed that playing the piano, playing chess, writing, painting, or just listening to the piano, watching chess, appreciating words, reading paintings, understanding poetry and painting, can appreciate the eyes, cultivate sentiments, and benefit health and longevity. The daily necessities, mountains and rivers that appear in the paintings of the Tang Dynasty truly reflect the way of life and scientific and technological level of the people at that time, combined with the records of the background of the ancient paintings, it is even more interesting to appreciate the paintings.
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Datang was in the heyday of feudal society, the country was unified, the society was relatively stable, the economic prosperity and the frequent and active place of foreign economic and cultural exchanges, all of which brought new opportunities to the development of culture and art, so that the art of painting formed a brilliant situation, and a number of famous painters with great influence in history emerged.
The painting genre of the Tang Dynasty is still dominated by figure painting, the court office and temple murals account for a considerable proportion, the portraits of meritorious heroes continue to be praised, and the grottoes and temple murals have a greater development than the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and their scale and skill are unprecedented in history. The popular large-scale classic themes in the Buddhist temple murals have reached an unprecedented level, interspersed with a large number of life scenes, the humanized component of the Buddhist image created has been significantly enhanced, and even the phenomenon of using gongwa as a model to shape the image of the bodhisattva has appeared, and the devotees attached to the Buddhist temple murals occupy a larger wall, all of which shows the tendency of Buddhist painting to adapt to the good social good and tend to secularize. Here we share the paintings of Zhang Xuan, a famous painter of the Tang Dynasty.
Zhang Xuan, a Han Chinese, native of Chang'an (present-day Xi'an), was a Painter of the Tang Dynasty who probably served as a court painter during the Kaiyuan (713-741) period. Known for his good painting of noble ladies and kurama in the palace garden, he is usually mentioned in the history of painting alongside another female painter, Zhou Fang, who came later than him. The Tang and Song Dynasties painting history records that There are dozens of works by Zhang Xuan.
According to the history of painting, Zhang Xuan's paintings have been circulated a lot, and the Xuanhe Pictorial Notation alone contains forty-seven volumes, of which more than thirty volumes depict ladies. Representative works include "Trick Painting", "Lady Yu Guo You Chun Tu", "Ming Emperor Hele Tu", "Tang Hou Xing Cong", "Nursing Mother Baby Diagram", "Prostitute Picture", "Snow Appreciation", "Tibetan Fan", "Lady Yu Guo Night Tour Map", etc., of which the surviving works include "Ming Emperor Hele Tu", "Trick Painting" and "Lady Yu Guo You Chun Tu".
Zhang Xuan's character brush strokes are full of edges and angles, full of personality, and his masterpieces "Trick Painting" and "Lady Yu Chuntu" are even better, which can not only reflect the aristocratic life, but also copy the details of the life of the Tang Dynasty at that time from the details. Therefore, whether it is Zhang Xuan's artistic ideas or Zhang Xuan's painting skills, it is worth learning and excavating by future generations of painters.
During the Tang Dynasty, Zhang Xuan's "Trick Painting" was analyzed
Zhang Xuan's "Trick Drawing" Song facsimile, silk color, length 37 cm, width 147 cm. Collection of the Museum of Boston, USA.
"Trick Painting" is also a facsimile of the Song Huizong, which is now in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, USA. "Trick Painting" depicts the mood of women in various activities from pounding to exercising, and portrays the appearance and personality of different characters. It shows the scene of women tinkering and sewing clothes, and the interrelationship between the characters is vivid and natural. People engaged in the same activity, due to different identities, ages, and division of labor, have different actions and expressions, and reflect the characteristics of the characters. The character image is realistic, depicting Wei Xiao, smooth, and colorful, reflecting the aesthetic taste of Sheng Tang advocating health and abundance, and representing the typical era style of character modeling in that era.
The silk-clinging woman's body leans back slightly, as if she is slightly exerting force; exercising the woman's serious and focused expression, beautiful appearance, appropriately shows a warm and calm mood. The girl who peeked curiously under the silk, and the girl who was afraid of the heat and looked back, were vividly engaged. The painter shows women's trickling activities, not only depicting the process of pounding, threading, weaving, ironing, etc., he not only attaches importance to the shaping of the character image, but also pays attention to portraying some interesting details, so that the reflected content has a more life atmosphere.
In terms of color, it belongs to "heavy color" and is good at rendering. More use of bright vermilion, crimson, orange, emerald green, stone blue, beige, etc., pay attention to the coordination of colors in the gorgeous richness, pay attention to the contrast between cold and warm colors in the balanced configuration, giving people a bright and lively aesthetic. The ornamentation on silk clothing is also very intricate.
Although this picture is not Zhang Xuan's original work, because the history of painting records that Zhou Fang "initially imitated Zhang Xuan, and then it was slightly different", comparing this picture with Zhou Fang's heirloom works, it can be seen that the facsimile is not far from the original work. Therefore, "Trick Painting" is particularly important for understanding the style of Zhang Xuan's paintings of women, children and other figures.
During the Tang Dynasty, Zhang Xuan's "Lady Yu Chuntu of the State of Yu" was analyzed
Tang ZhangXuan 'Lady Yu Chun Tu' is colored on silk, 52 cm in length and 148 cm in width. Collection of Liaoning Provincial Museum.
This picture depicts The journey of Tang Xuanzong's favorite concubine Yang Yuhuan,during the Tang Tianbao period, Lady Yuguo and Lady Qinguo and their attendants on a spring outing. In front of them, there are three single-riding open roads, in turn for men's ladies and ladies riding black horses; in the middle, two horses are side-by-side, that is, Lady Yu Guo and Lady Qin Guo are walking side by side, both riding light yellow horses, Lady Yu Guo is in the center of the whole painting, And Lady Qin Guo is facing her sideways, the two have rich faces, graceful and luxurious, and their looks are leisurely; finally, they are three riders side by side, and the middle is the nanny; one hand holds the reins and the other hand holds the child in his arms, and the nanny is a man's lady on the right and a girl in red on the left. The work shows the leisurely and leisurely joy of the noble ladies when they travel in the spring, and reflects the extravagant and lascivious hedonistic life of the upper class at that time from one side. The outing line is a loose combination of front and back, and there are changes in unity, full of rhythm and rhythm.
Since the main theme of the whole painting is You Chun, the composition process is loose and has a pulse, and the rhythm is relaxed. The front three horses are more empty, and the back five horses are tighter, and the level and staggering are very natural, there is no sense of urgency, but it is not scattered. The movement of people and horses is not large, calm and dashing, but at the same time maintains a sense of solemnity, which is in harmony with the theme of You Chun and is in line with the identity of a specific protagonist. In order to highlight the figures, the painter does not make a specific background, but only dyes the grass on the road with wet brush points, so that people can appreciate the peace and emptiness of the spring suburbs. The line drawings of this work are characterized by rounded and delicate strength, and they are feminine in the power. Generally speaking, Tang painting line drawings are mostly applied to empty and refined iron lines, and the soft line drawing of this figure may be related to the aesthetic interest of the Song Dynasty copyists. But the tone of the picture is still graceful, confident and optimistic Sheng Tang Fengshen. Lady Yu Guo and the other three sisters were the sisters of Yang Guifei, especially Yu Guo, who had close contacts with her brother Yang Guozhong, often riding high-headed horses and entering and leaving the forbidden place, and the road was covered by it. Du Fu once used the poem "Li Ren Xing" to ridicule their beauty, extravagance, and hot and miscellaneous power. Zhang Xuan, who was at the same time or a little earlier than Du Fu, painted history for the History Museum during the Kaiyuan period, specializing in figures, pavilions, flowers, birds and trees, especially famous for painting women and babies. Although his "Lady Yu Chun Tu" can be read together with "Li Ren Xing", this picture is not a satire, but a realistic genre painting. Tang Dynasty society is quite open, women's social travel and outdoor activities are not as confined and claustrophobic as in the late feudal society, Zhang Xuan's work is directly based on the court nobles, with real people with real names and real surnames as the protagonists, which reflects this fact.
During the Tang Dynasty, Zhang Xuan (biography) "Ming Emperor Hele Picture Scroll" appreciation
Tang ZhangXuan (biography) "Ming Emperor Hele Picture Scroll" is colored on silk, 29.5 cm in length and 50 cm in width. National Palace Museum, Taipei.
Zhang Xuangong in the character of the female, the characteristics are obvious, the character in this picture depicts Shu Yue calmly, thin but not greasy, exquisite line drawing, color Yan elegant, but the character is slightly thin and tang Dynasty beauty standard is not similar, I am afraid that it will be painted by later generations of masters.
During the Tang Dynasty, Zhang Xuan's "Tang Hou Xing Congtu" was analyzed
On June 19, 2013, the auction house Thierry De Megre in Paris, France, auctioned a painting of "Tang Hou Xing Cong" at a high price, which was purchased by domestic collectors. This figure is unspecified, with a vertical axis of color on silk, 180cm in length and 100cm in width, and is framed in Japanese style. There are 29 people in the pictured courtyard, one of whom is wide-robed and sleeved, wearing a phoenix crown, and is richly dressed, that is, the so-called "Wu Zetian" after the Tang Dynasty, from the perspective of the subject matter, it is indeed a scene depicting Wu Zetian's ceremonial guard touring the imperial garden. This picture was once collected by the expert Zhang Heng, and is now a private collection, which was once publicly exhibited in China.
This picture was written by Zhang Xuan in the Tang Dynasty, and there are also five generations and northern Song dynasty people, but if you examine its bibliography, clothing and titles, and pen and ink painting methods, the era should not be earlier than the Southern Song Dynasty, or the Ming people imitated it. The following is discussed from these aspects.
Bibliography, seals and circulation. The Northern Song Dynasty's "Xuanhe Pictorial Notation" volume five characters are recorded: "Zhang Xuan, Jing Zhaoren also." Good at drawing characters, and Yu Guigong and boudoir show the most work... There are seven of the forty hidden in the imperial palace: Ming Emperor Na Liang Tu I, Whole Makeup Tu I, Nursing Mother Holding Baby Tu I, Trick Training Figure I, Ju Gong Riding Figure I, Tang Hou Xing Cong Tu V ...". It can be seen that Zhang Xuanying painted the "Tang Hou Xing Congtu", and there were five paintings circulated during the Northern Song Dynasty. However, this map does not have the Xuanhe Tibetan seal, and naturally it cannot be one of the five "Tang Hou Xing Congtu Diagrams" recorded in the Xuanhe Pictorial Notation.
Later documents recorded that they all copied the "Tang Hou Xing Congtu Tu V" in the Xuanhe Painting Notation, such as the "Style Gutang Calligraphy and Painting Examination", "Pei Wen Zhai Calligraphy and Painting Notation", etc., but wu Sheng's "Great View Record" of the Qing Dynasty "Jin Sui Tang Five Generations Famous Picture Scroll Eleven" recorded: "Zhang Xuan Tang Hou Xing Conghua painting, yellow silk width half, five feet five inches high, two feet five inches wide, a total of twenty-seven people riding from lianhou, with a face of Yan Gu, crowned with beautiful hair, and a beautiful and flying overview." The color is light and light, the green bamboo is two bushes, the dead trees are reflected, and the high and wonderful, cherished by the past generations, the Song seal is very good. Compared with today's "Tang Hou Xing Congtu Tu", the number of people does not match, there is no "Song Seal", and the picture is ink bamboo instead of green bamboo, and there is no so-called car, horse and "public opinion". There is also a size, the "Great View Record" was written around the fifty years of the Kangxi Dynasty, should follow the old system of the Ming tailor ruler (one foot in 34cm), can be pushed to its bibliography of 187cm in length and 85cm in width, much higher and narrower than the current map. If remounted and cropped, the figure can be shortened or narrowed, but today the "Tang Hou Xing Congtu" is wider than it, which shows that Wu Sheng's "Great View Record" records another "Tang Hou Xing Congtu" with Song seals, not the one seen today.
Appreciation of Zhang Xuan's "Wu Zetian" during the Tang Dynasty
Zhang Xuan's "Wu Zetian", Wu Zetian was the only female emperor in the two-thousand-year feudal society. For a long time, people were very curious about Wu Zetian's appearance, what did she look like? There are many images of Wu Zetian in film and television dramas, and Wu Zetian, played by Liu Xiaoqing, is even more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. However, these are film and television works after all, and they are not enough to support them. Regarding Wu Zetian's appearance, the most common theory is the Great Buddha of Lushena in the Longmen Grottoes of Luoyang, which is said to have been carved according to the appearance of Wu Zetian, who had just been made empress by Emperor Gaozong of Tang.
Perhaps this statement makes sense, but after all, the Buddha statue carving is higher than reality, and it is very different from the real appearance. There is such a description in the "Sorrow of the Great Saint Empress of Zetian", "ZhiZha Kunde, Shen Qian Gangke, Qixiang Yueyan, HuixinQuan Sai..." Pay attention to the four words in it, "Qixiang Yueyan", which means that Wu Zetian has a special appearance, and what exactly it looks like, it is the same as not saying.
In addition, there are also sayings about Wu Zetian's appearance such as "dragon eye phoenix neck" and "square forehead guangyi". At present, from the murals in the tombs of Tang Dynasty nobles excavated from excavations, Tang Dynasty women are fat and beautiful, and their dressing style is relatively open. In the prosperous Tang Dynasty, the most eye-catching woman was none other than Yang Guifei, and the "Kaiyuan Tianbao Testament" recorded: "Noble concubines are known for meat.
Wu Zetian's appearance was finally exposed, and the thousand-year-old painting revealed the true appearance, expert: Wu Zetian looked really fat.
Zhang Xuan's female figure has something in common with the image in Zhou Fang's works: women are generally fat and colorful, with fine brushwork, uniform color, and extremely unearthed Tang figurine clay sculptures and bodhisattva statues on religious paintings. Zhang Xuan's female paintings had a profound influence in the history of his later figure painting. There are the gonggong qiao diagram, the moon chart, the karma drum diagram, the swing diagram, the noble prince's night tour diagram, the lady of the kingdom travel map, and the nursing mother's baby diagram. Zhang Xuan's palace kurama is called the first. Zhang Xuanshan drafted a cluster of scenery, and the location pavilions, trees, flowers and birds were all exquisite. Zhang Xuanqi painted women, with Zhu Halo ear root as a different.