Rongbaozhai Huapu, 142, Landscape Section: Landscape Section

Author: Qian Songyan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-10-01
Features: Qian Songyan was an outstanding Chinese painter and a typical traditional scholar. His paintings are distinguished by their archaic simplicity, stability, depth, sobriety, and richness. He took the traditional brushwork technique of "mark of a leaking roof" to its extreme. In this regard, he was unique in his time, with no other school matching his ability, and he was both unmatched by predecessors and a pioneer for successors. This style stemmed from his foundation in calligraphy and his unique personality. In his early years of painting, he was influenced by the "Four Wangs," but his calligraphy was not like theirs. The calligraphic spirit of the "Four Wangs" was similar to that of Dong Qichang. Dong Qichang's paintings and calligraphy were characterized by elegance and smoothness, whereas Qian Songyan's calligraphy drew from seal script, clerical script, and Wei Stele calligraphy. Qian Songyan came from a humble scholarly family with deep academic heritage and received a solid education from a young age. He studied poetry, prose, and ci poems since childhood, so he was proficient in poetry, calligraphy, painting, and all aspects of traditional scholar culture.