There were two particularly powerful painters in the Tang Dynasty, one was Wu Daozi, a painter who flourished in the Tang Dynasty painting world with "Wu Dai Dangfeng", and the other was Yan Liben, who painted Shi Liufang with "Step Map" and "Map of Emperors of Past Dynasties".
Yan Liben lived in the early Tang Dynasty, about a hundred years before Wu Daozi, he was not only a great artist, but also a politician who was good at discovering talents, because he had served as the chancellor of Empress Wu Zetian's husband, Tang Gaozong, and once recommended a generation of famous ministers to the imperial court with a pair of wise eyes.
It was precisely because of Yan Liben's high political status that he had the opportunity to create such masterpieces as "Bu YuanTu", "Taizong Zhenrong", "Eighteen Scholars of the Qin Dynasty", and "Portraits of the Twenty-Four Heroes of LingYange", which were quite portrait-style.
Let's take "Step Map" as an example to feel Yan Liben's superb painting art.
139 cm long and 38.5 cm high, the "Step Map" depicts the scene of Li Shimin of Tang Taizong in the fifteenth year of Zhenguan (641 AD) receiving Lu Dongzan, a Tubo emissary who was married to Princess Wencheng. In this famous historical painting, a generation of Ming Emperor Tang Taizong has a majestic and peaceful face, sitting on the steps carried by four palace women, and five palace women are Emperor Taizong or umbrellas, or Zhang Fan. Tang Taizong and the Nine Palace Ladies are located on the right side of the picture, and on the left side of the picture, there are three people standing respectfully, in front of which is a red-robed and bearded concierge; in the middle is a Tibetan envoy Lu Dongzan; and behind is a white-robed internal attendant (that is, the eunuch chieftain who is often talked about).
The painting master Yan Liben not only reproduced the great historical moment before Princess Wencheng entered Tibet, but also vividly portrayed the unique temperament and manners of different characters.
However, this article is about a small mistake by the great painter Yan Liben, which appeared in his other masterpiece, "The Map of The Emperors of past Dynasties".
The "Emperors of the Past Dynasties", also known as the "Portraits of Emperors of Past Dynasties", "Emperors of Lietu", "Thirteen Emperors", and "Pictures of Ancient Emperors", depict a total of thirteen emperors from the Han Dynasty to the Sui Dynasty, namely: Liu Fuling, Emperor Zhao of the Western Han Dynasty, Liu Xiu, Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Pi of the Emperor of Wei, Liu Bei of the Emperor of Shu Zhaolie, Sun Quan of the Emperor of Wu, Sima Yan of the JinWu Emperor, Yuwen Yong of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, Chen Xuan emperor Chen Bozong, Chen Xuan Emperor Chen Huan, Chen Shubao, Emperor Yang Jian of Sui, and Yang Guang, emperor of Sui.
If I say that one of these thirteen emperors has a very close relationship with Yan Liben, do you think it is a little strange? But it really can be. So who is he? Neither the Sui Emperor who reigned closest to him, nor the Sui Emperor's father, Emperor Wen of Sui, but the Emperor Yuwen Yong of northern Zhou, who reigned earlier, that is, the Zhou Wu Emperor Yuwen Yong among the four emperors known for destroying Buddhism.
So what is the intimate relationship between Yan Liben and Yuwen Yong? It turned out that the latter was the grandfather of the former.
Yan Liben's father, named Yan Bi, was also a famous painter, and Yan Liben's mother was Princess Qingdu, the daughter of Emperor Yuwen Yong of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, in other words, Yan Liben was born into a family of imperial relatives with a strong artistic atmosphere. In fact, Yan Liben's brother Yan Lide is also a great artist, and their father and son can be called the "Three Sus" in the history of Chinese painting!
In the "Diagram of Emperors of Past Dynasties", Yan Liben vividly and vividly showed the personality and temperament of different emperors with his brilliant brushwork, such as the calm atmosphere and far-sighted vision of Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu, the old fatigue and worry of The Shu Zhaolie Emperor Liu Bei, the arrogance and arrogance of Emperor Cao Pi of Wei, the foresight and broad-mindedness of Sima Yan, the emperor of Jinwu, the gentleness and versatility of Emperor Chen Xuan, the rough and strong beams and strategic decisions of Emperor Yuwen Yong of Northern Zhou, and the superficial peace and inner suspicion of Emperor Yang Jian of Sui. The Sui Dynasty Emperor Yang Guang's Hui Zhongxiu was out of the ordinary and enjoyed comfort.
Yan Liben's small mistakes appeared in his pens of Liu Fuling, the Emperor of Han Zhao, and Chen Bozong, the Emperor of Chen.
Emperor Liu Fuling of Han, the youngest son of Emperor Wu of Han, was born in 94 BC and succeeded to the throne at the age of seven with the assistance of Huo Guang, but died tragically at the age of twenty thirteen years later. Emperor Zhao's Liu Fuling and the subsequent Emperor Xuan's Illness had jointly created the third reign of the Western Han Dynasty, Zhaoxuan Zhongxing, and of course left behind a huge regret that his exploits had not been accomplished and Shao Nian had collapsed.
Among the thirteen emperors in the "Chart of Emperors of Past Dynasties", Emperor Han Zhao should be the one with the highest appearance, which can be described as a face like a crown jade, red lips and white teeth, and clear eyebrows, but it still looks like a man of twenty or thirty years old, rather than a teenager with a weak crown (twenty years old in ancient times is the year of a weak crown). By the way, I once again regret for Emperor Han Zhao, if he can live to the age of seventy like his father Emperor Wu of Han, he will properly become the longest reigning emperor in Chinese history, two years more than the Kangxi Emperor, but unfortunately he died just after reaching the age of twenty, and if Emperor Wu of Han had known about it, he would not know what kind of emotion he would have issued...
If Yan Liben's mistakes in painting Emperor Han Zhao's portraits were not so obvious, then the mistakes in the image of Chen Bozong, the emperor of Chen, could not be concealed in any case.
Chen Bozong was the eldest son of Emperor Wen of Chen, born in 552 or 554, and was made crown prince in 559. In 566, Emperor Wen of Chen died of illness, and Chen Bozong, who was still a minor, succeeded to the throne, and the government was in the hands of his uncle Chen Bozong, and in early 569, Chen Bozong deposed Chen Bozong and ascended the throne himself as emperor, and a year later Chen Bozong died inexplicably.
No matter how you calculate, Chen Bozong was in a juvenile state when he was emperor, even until he died, he was at most an eighteen-year-old child, but in the "Emperor Map of Past Dynasties", he and his father Chen Wendi were all a long-bearded and fluttering, well-versed in the world's Confucian appearance, which in any case does not make sense, the author really can't understand why the painting master Yan Liben's pen has such a mistake that may not be a small mistake...
Special Writer of "Night Wolf Literature and History Studio": Yi Jiangnan