Li Bai wrote an article entitled "Spring Night Feast Peach and Plum Garden Preface". He said, "The one who is the master of heaven and earth is also the anti-journey of all things; the one who is time and yin, the guest of hundreds of generations." "Li Bai likes to be lively and also loves to drink. He and several brothers in the family held a night feast, and of course the mood was high. This wonderful article was passed down to future generations and became a favorite subject of creation for painters. This painting is the work of the early Qing Dynasty painter Lü Huancheng, combining figure painting with green landscapes, starting from the atmosphere, depicting the scene at the beginning of the night feast.
Divided in terms of subject matter, "Night Feast Peach and Plum Garden" can be classified as a historical figure painting. When admiring this kind of work, one will be concerned about the question of who the characters in the painting are. Specific to this work, I want to know who is Li Bai in the painting? With this question in mind, take a closer look at the painting and analyze it to find the answer.
Lu Huancheng feasted on peach and plum garden at night
The history of figure painting is quite long, and the longest-standing figure painting is the "Character Royal Dragon Diagram" of the Warring States period. Most of the character scrolls of Gu Kaizhi in the Jin Dynasty have been lost, but fortunately there are descendants who have survived in the world, which can glimpse the artistic height of that time. Unfortunately, since the Yuan Dynasty, figure painting has not been valued by professional painters and has become a means for folk painters to make a living. For more than a hundred years, figure painting masters were quite rare.
In terms of character modeling, Lü Huancheng borrowed from the works of the Ming Dynasty painter Qiu Ying. However, he is a painter who attaches great importance to copying and lacks experience in sketching. When he draws more complex human body structures, he makes jokes. Looking closely at the table in the painting, there is a literati sitting and turning his head, drawing very strangely. Of course, the body structure of most of the people in the painting is quite accurate. Even if it is slightly insufficient, it will not affect the perception.
Lü Huancheng Night Feast Peach and Plum Garden Partial
There is no problem with the human form that appeared in the works of the predecessors. Draw the shape you have in mind, and you will make mistakes. Lü Huancheng's mistakes are fairly common, he is impeccable in terms of inheritance, and he needs to be improved in innovation. Classifying him as a painter who takes the ancient as a teacher can help the viewer find Li Bai in the painting.
Among the ancient figures, the red-robed one had a noble status. There are two main reasons for this, one of which is that the ancient dye purification process is very complicated, so the social hierarchy of the characters can be judged from the color of the clothes. Second, the ancients often used cinnabar to paint red-clad figures, and cinnabar was expensive. Therefore, the red-clad figures in this painting are either rich or expensive. Specific to this painting, there is only one literati in red, and he can only be the protagonist Li Bai.
When I found Li Bai, I understood the painting. Li Bai walked sideways and walked from a distance to the center of the picture, which just showed that Lu Huancheng was painting the scene at the beginning of the night feast. Qiu Ying of the Ming Dynasty also painted "Night Feast Peach and Plum Garden", and he painted the climax of the banquet. Lü Huan became a distinction between the works of his predecessors and famous artists, and slightly adjusted the content to give the works a sense of freshness.
There is an interesting detail in the painting, Peach and Plum Garden, as the name suggests, is a yard, a residence. Under Lü Huancheng's pen, Tao Li Yuan has become a corner of natural landscapes. He handled it this way because he understood Li Bai's article and knew that Li Bai was a literary artist who loved freedom. From this detail, it is shown that Lü Huancheng is Li Bai's confidant, and his literary attainment is also very high.
In the history of painting, it is said, "Lü Huancheng, the style is strange and ancient." This evaluation is quite accurate, he uses the traditional literati story as the theme to create, painting the inner feelings of the literati. Cultural inheritance, thousands of years of immortality, posterity and ancients can become a confidant, Lü Huan has become a great.