"The Biography of the Painter" ~ 184th article
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="2" > Guo Chunxingwu was born in the army, because of the promotion of nobles, favored by four generations of kings, and was an early representative of the Ming Painting Academy</h1>
Text/Lu Xiuhui
Guo Chun (1370-1444), originally known as Wentong, chengzu Zhu Di gave the current name, so he used Wentong as a character, the number Ofura, Zhejiang Yongjia people.
Guo Chun was an authentic civilian, had no experience in the imperial examination, and was not even a show talent. With his superb painting skills and the opportunities given by his fellow villagers in personnel affairs, he eventually became the most valued court painter of Ming Chengzu Zhu Di, who went through four dynasties before and after, and made a contribution to shi with the gate of Zheng Wupin.
Guo Chun was not originally surnamed Guo or Guo Chun, he was actually surnamed Cai. He was the heir of a family surnamed Guo, and his adoptive father, Guo Zhonghe, who had no children, carried him from the Cai family to the Guo family and raised him, and from then on, he took Guo as his surname and named Himong. The Guo family's "industry is thin, not enough to raise." So he learned to paint mr. Yuanran and "got the essentials". Li Yuanran, "with characters, Yongjia people, good at painting", is an unknown painter who is related to the Guo family. Guo's father let his son learn to paint in order to learn a skill that can stand in society and solve life problems, and painting is also a craft of eating.
Guo Wentong studied with Li Yuanran for a period of time, and after initially mastering the technique of painting, he was not satisfied with this and ran to Chuzhou (present-day Lishui, Zhejiang) to worship a famous teacher as an apprentice and continue his further studies. He traveled back and forth between Wenzhou and Chuzhou, and with a higher pursuit, his painting level also made great progress. The road of painting has been difficult to walk since ancient times, and Guo Wentong was finally forced by life to abandon his pen and come to nanjing, the capital city, to eat with mixed food.
Guo Wentong's unit, which was subordinate to the Xingwu Wei (興武衛), one of the seventeen guards of the pro-army established by The Ming Emperor Zhu Yuan when he was the King of Wu, was the capital Janissary Army. Beijing is a place where talents gather, Guo Wentong is humble, everyone likes to make friends with him, because he smells Ribo, and the social circle has also undergone fundamental changes, which has made his achievements deeper. At this time, his paintings drew on the strengths of various families, and his skills have been greatly improved, and his reputation has become more and more famous. Commander Wei made Xie Mou appreciate him very much, and Xie Da, the younger brother of Xie Commander, was Zhu Yuanzhang's fifteenth daughter, Princess Ruyang, and the two brothers invited Guo Wentong to live at home and let him concentrate on painting. The two brothers were amazed by Guo Wentong's painting level.
Guo Wentong's compatriot Huang Huai played a key role in changing his fate. Huang Huai was an important minister during the founding of the Ming Dynasty cabinet, serving in the five dynasties of Taizu, Huidi, Chengzu, Renzong, and Xuanzong, and was appointed as the "Ronglu Dafu ShaobaoHubu Shangshu and The President of the Scholar Zhizhi Of Wuyingdian University". After Zhu Di launched the "Battle of Jingnan" to seize the throne, Huang Huai quickly became a red man of The Ming Dynasty Ancestor Zhu Di because of his entry into the ming dynasty. Soon after he ascended the throne, he set up a court painting academy in the second year of Yongle (1404) and entrusted Huang Huailuo to be a good painter, and Huang Huai's first thought was Guo Wentong, who was also an old friend.
On Huang Huai's recommendation, Ming Chengzu Zhu Di summoned Guo Wentong. At first sight, Ming Chengzu Zhu Di was very satisfied with Guo Wentong, and ordered the Guanglu Temple to give wine and food. At that time, Guo Wentong was about thirty-three or four years old. Because Zhu Di's imperial conquest of Mobei was not long ago, the establishment of a painting academy was shelved. However, Zhu Di still did not forget Guo Wentong in his busy life, and ordered him to temporarily live in the Wu Lou To paint, which is the Wu Ying Hall. Court painters painted in the Wuying Hall, which later became a common practice in the Ming Dynasty (calligraphers wrote books in the Wenhua Hall). There are many ancient Tibetan paintings in the Wuying Hall, so Guo Wentong was able to see the famous relics of the ancients, which was undoubtedly of great benefit to the improvement of his painting skills.
On October 22, 12012, Zhu Di even viewed Guo Wentong's paintings, and Da Yue and Cha Nei summoned Guo Wentong. After the morning of the next day, Zhu Di summoned Guo Wentong at the Ben Temple, and Zhu Di pointed to Guo Wentong and asked the Hubu Shangshu Xia Yuanji, the Bingbu Shangshu Fangbin, and the Gongbu Shangshu Wuzhong who were present: "Do you know him?" Several replied, "To know is to know, but I don't know much about what he is capable of." Zhu Di said: "This is Guo Wentong, a Talented Talent in Jiangnan, who is good at painting and painting, has been waiting for more than ten years, is cautious, loyal and simple, and does not correct hypocrisy." Today he will give him the name 'purity', to commend him for his virtues, and to grant him the official position of a camp servant, and to receive only the title of Servant and not to be in charge. "Immediately ordered the servant to take out the crown and give it to him."
Since then, Guo Wentong changed his name to Guo Chun, changed "Wentong" to a character, and took the name "Park An". For the first time, Guo Chun had an official title: Ying Ji Suo Cheng (营缮所丞). The Camp Institute is a subordinate organization of the Ministry of Works, responsible for the construction of the palace, and Cheng is the subordinate officer of the Camp, Jiupin. But he didn't have to go to work at the camp and still just painted as in the past. Since the Yuan Dynasty, the official titles conferred by court painters are inconsistent with the work they actually perform. After entering the Ming Dynasty, there were even painters who were given the position of Jinyi Guard, from the command to thousands of households, hundreds of households, and so on, in fact, they were just taking Feng Lu, the real job was to paint, and Guo Chun was enshrined in the imperial prison. Compared with the previous generation, although the Ming Dynasty Painting Academy has always been known as the "Painting Academy", it has not established a formal institution like the "Hanlin Painting Academy" in the Song Dynasty. Although the Ming Dynasty did not have a formal establishment of a painting academy, in fact, like the Song Dynasty Court Painting Institute, there were special institutions to manage court painters, there were recruitment, selection and daily assessment of court painters, and there was also a set of examples of court painters' appointment and promotion.
When Guo Chun made "Park Jae", he asked Jin Youzi to make a note. Jin Youzi and Ji Shui Xue Xie Jin were in the same rank as Wen Yuange, lecturing for the crown prince, and a generation of Confucian courtiers. Someone said to Jin Youzi: "Wen Tong is intelligent, has ingenuity, is good at painting, has the method of big and small Li, and is particularly exquisite in making golden and green landscapes, and seems to be a non-simple person, but it is a famous zhai, not much worse than the opposite?" How can such a clever person as Guo Chun be called "Park"? Jin Youzi's answer is that to see people, we must look at the essence, and the "simplicity" of Wentong is "a few than the Tao" (almost the "Tao" advocated by Confucianism), which is to correct the vain and vulgar, is to return to simplicity and return to the truth, in order to reach the realm indicated by Confucius, which has nothing to do with whether it is clever or not. The Ming Dynasty Zhang Bi recorded in the "East Sea Collection": "Pure chong inner court offering, Xuanzong tasted the painting of the face, not to write, to die, to say: 'Bitter book music painting.' It is better to die than to be hasty. 'Xuanzong is Ji Wei. "Dare not to buy the emperor." This story can be used as a commentary on Guo Chun's "no correction". Guo Chunshan drank, and Wang Zhi said in the poem "Titled Landscape and Water Gift to Yang Xi Festival":
Guo Chunyongjia is a good painter from the past.
Xing came to show Haosu, full of brilliant gold.
Yongle Zhong's unique field,
Worship the official has to be in the workshop.
Always bear the edict of the dot dye,
Nine-fold in and out glow.
Hong Xi changed the yuan to the beginning of the yuan and entered the position of the gate envoy.
It is often said that after drinking,
Dump the pot and get drunk.
Quite self-cherishing outside of the imperial offering,
A stroke is not willing to be light with people.
Holding this picture to give me,
Let me sit back and remember Jiangnan Spring.
Where is the most amazing victory in Gangnam,
Who is in Qiantang West Lake?
The mountains are surrounded by greenery,
Bright apricots and peaches.
Pedestrians on the bridge crossed on horseback,
By the bridge, Gui Yang Qingbo.
Elder Qiaomu under the Ancestral Hall of The King of Yue,
There are many herbs in front of lin kui house.
Spring is so good to be appreciated,
Cultivate from afar.
Looking back at the painting quietly,
The night rain and cold window are lonely.
Shanyang Yoshishi is really curious,
Whoever gets rid of it in his life will be bound.
Yesterday to the Beijing Division, the autumn wind dew white.
Visit my Little Yingzhou and be a fairy guest for the time being.
Drifting back and forth can not stay,
Whisk your clothes to swim southeast.
Inscribed poems alley painting gifts to go,
Acacia is leaning on the New City Building.
Ming Chengzu Zhu Di moved the capital to Beijing, and Guo Chun followed the emperor to Beijing. From the twelfth year of Yongle to the twenty-second year of Yongle (the year in which the Yongle Emperor died), in this decade, Guo Chun was most favored by Ming Chengzu Zhu Di, who often came to see him paint, Guo Chun carefully followed the attendants around, behaved respectfully, the emperor asked, he always played carefully and carefully, very decent. Therefore, from beginning to end, Ming Chengzu Zhu Di also trusted him very much. Ming Chengzu Zhu Di was a ruthless man, and his right and left hand Huang Huai, due to the framing of Zhu Gaoxu, the King of Han, was imprisoned for ten years, until after the death of Ming Chengzu Zhu Di, Emperor Renzong Zhu Gaozi succeeded to the throne and let Huang Huai out of prison. Zhu Di killed Jianwen Zhongchen, and the level of brutality was heinous.
Ming Chengzu Zhu Di loves the art of calligraphy and painting, vigorously attracts artists, and has his own set of views on art. The reason why Guo Chun has always been treated well by the Yongle Emperor is not only because of his simplicity, but also because the two junchen have artistic resonance. Guo Chun's landscape paintings follow the path of the Yuan Dynasty painter ShengMao, and the arrangement is dense. At that time, some people said that the Song Dynasty painters Xia Jue and Ma Yuanren rebuked him: "It is the remnants of the mountains and water, and the things of the Song Dynasty are also secluded, how to take it!" Guo Chun's artistic insights were deeply recognized by Ming Chengzu Zhu Di, who was trying to restore the territory of Greater China until his death, naturally rejecting "remnants of mountains and water", and Guo Chun's "densely arranged" landscape paintings naturally had the greatest appetite for him. Ming Yesheng's "Diary of Shuidong" records: "Fan Qidong said that the changling tomb was in the book alone between the clouds, and Yu Hua loved Yongjia Guo Wentong the most, with the abundance and warmth of the book, and the Guo landscape was densely arranged. ”
The three emperors after Yongle, Emperor Renzong (Hong Xi, Zhu Gaoxu), Xuanzong (Xuande, Zhu Zhanji), and Yingzong (Orthodox, Zhu Qizhen), were all very favorable to Guo Chun. When Emperor Renzong was crown prince, he had favored Guo Chun, and after he ascended the throne, he made Guo Chun an old vassal of Yongle, and gave him preferential treatment, and changed him to the position of XihuaDian to be an edict, and soon promoted him to the rank of Envoy of the Gate of The Gate, enjoying the treatment of ZhengLiupin, with the official rank of Chengzhilang, and gave his father the same official rank, and gave his mother Zhang Shi and his wife Ye Shi as Anren. Emperor Renzong died after a year as emperor, and Emperor Xuanzong, who succeeded him, also took great care of Guo Chun, first, according to Guo Chun's request, ordered Xingwu Wei to cut off his military rank, otherwise, Guo Chun was still a pawn; second, he was promoted to Zhengwu PinShilu. Emperor Xuanzong also gave him the five characters of the imperial book "Jiangnan XiucaiJia". After Emperor Xuanzong's collapse, Emperor Yingzong succeeded to the throne, and Guo Chun was in his sixties, and on the grounds of his old age and decline, shangshu requested Zhishi. Emperor Yingzong approved and gave him a considerable amount of travel expenses to make his trip. Xu Youzhen said in the "Song of The Title Guo Wentong Landscape and Water":
The new picture is autumn at first sight,
Thousands of rocks spit out clouds.
Who can write here?
Guo Lao Danqing is truly skilled.
After Guo Chun returned to his hometown, he built a house called "Park Jae" as a place of retirement, and celebrities Yang Shiqi and Jin Youzi both wrote "Park Jae Ji" for him. In the ninth year of Emperor Yingzong's reign, Guo Chun died at the age of seventy-five.
Guo Chun was one of the main representative figures of the early Ming Dynasty painting and an important painter of landscape painting in the early Ming Dynasty, and the court painting of the early Ming Dynasty represented the highest level of national painting at that time. In the courtyard paintings of this period, the painting style still maintains the tradition of the Yuan people, and the landscape painting is mainly based on the four families of the Fayuan. Guo Chun's landscape paintings are strictly and carefully arranged, and the tree stones are both Li Cheng and Guo Xi of the Northern Song Dynasty. The change in ming dynasty painting was after Xuande and Jiajing. The entire Ming Dynasty painting world had to wait for the emergence of the Wumen School before entering the golden age.
Lu Xiuhui has a poem "Praise Guo Chun", which reads:
The young man sighed, for the heir,
Spring light is so devoid of song and dance.
Coincidence is difficult,
Look at the mountains and lakes in the pen.
Learn to paint books as a home,
With life money.
Morning writing painting building cold bottom,
Xiying Creek Mountain warms up.
Wentong Smart Smart Mind,
Good at painting the size of Lee's scene.
Jinbi landscape laurel branches,
Stay in the spirit to see the lonely shadow.
Stay with the Spring Warbler Enchanted Creek,
The stream is far away and the mountains are shy to the west.
The water and stone of the promenade are cold and silent,
True incense sings poignantly.
Old Man Xing, Park Jae Huan,
It is particularly subtle and profound.
