Ming Dynasty painting

The Ming Dynasty paintings were further developed on the basis of the achievements of the paintings in the Song Dynasty and the early Yuan Dynasty. The painting techniques invented and developed before the Ming Dynasty became classical during this period. More colors were used in the paintings of the Ming Dynasty. Sealed brown has become more widely used and even overused during this period. Many new painting techniques/technologies have been innovated and developed, and the art of calligraphy and painting is more closely and perfectly combined. Chinese painting reached another climax in the middle and late Ming Dynasty. Many new styles of painting have been derived, and many new schools and outstanding masters have been born.

In the history of Chinese painting, the painting style of the Ming Dynasty changed and the paintings flourished. In terms of the categories and themes of painting, traditional figure paintings, landscape paintings, and flower island paintings are popular, and the plum, orchid, bamboo, and miscellaneous paintings of the literati ink paintings are also quite developed. In the art genre, there are many painting factions that are center-centered or different in style. In terms of teacher-in-chief, there are mainly the court paintings and the Zhejiang School, which are the style of the Southern Song Dynasty, and the Wumen School, the Songjiang School and the Su Song School, which have developed the literati painting tradition. In terms of painting, the ink paintings and landscapes and the freehand flowers and birds flourished, and the achievements were remarkable. The figure paintings also showed unique new features such as the deformed characters and the ink bones.

History

Early Ming Dynasty
From Hongwu (1368 ~ 1398) to Hongzhi (1488 ~ 1505) years. The court paintings of the Ming Dynasty and the Zhe School flourished in the art world, forming an era of fashion that inherits and develops the style of the Southern Song Dynasty.

The court paintings of the Ming Dynasty inherited the Song system, but did not have a special art institution. Many of the painters recruited by the imperial court are under the management of the internal government, and they are awarded the brocade. The history of painting called them painting artists, actually court painters.

Hongwu and Yongle (1403~1424) were in the early stage of the founding, and the institutions were not complete, and the styles continued to follow the old appearance of the Yuan Dynasty. From Xuande (1426~1435), Chenghua (1465~1487), Hongzhi (1488~1505), the painters who inherited the style of the Southern Song Dynasty in Zhejiang and Fujian were successively called into the palace to make the paintings of the Ming Dynasty appear for a while. Taking out the appearance of the paintings of the Faunan Song Dynasty, the court paintings reached their peak. After Zhengde (1506 ~ 1521), the Wumen faction rose and gradually replaced it. The court paintings of the Ming Dynasty were dominated by landscapes, flowers and birds, and the figures were narrowly drawn. They depict the portraits and life of the emperor, the martial arts of the royal family, and the priests of the princes. For example, Shang Xi’s “Ming Xuan Zong Xing Le Tu”, Xie Huan’s “Apricot Garden Collection”, Ni Duan’s “Employment of Pangtu”, Liu Jun’s “Snow Night Visiting Putu” are examples. The main patriarchal paintings of the Southern Song Dynasty, Ma Yuan and Xia Gui, also studied Guo Xi. The famous painters include Li Zai, Wang Wei and Zhu Duan. Li in the imitation of Guo Xi can almost be chaotic, Wang Hao is known as “Ming Yuan Ma Yuan.” The flower and bird paintings present a variety of features, representing the painter’s edge paintings that are good at meticulous work, inheriting the tradition of the Southern Song Dynasty, elegant and rich in business. Sun Long came out of the North Song Xu Chongzhen, specializing in no bones. Lin Liang is famous for his ink and wash, and his pen and ink are clean and unrestrained. Lv Jigong writes and combines, flowers and birds are beautiful, water and stone are thick and healthy, and they are self-contained. Their masterpieces include “Guiju Mountain Birds”, “Flowers and Birds”, “Autumn Waterfowl” and so on. Although the court paintings of the Ming Dynasty did not achieve the epoch-making achievements like the Song Dynasty paintings, there are also new developments in some aspects.

In the early Ming Dynasty, there were also a group of literati painters who inherited the traditional ink painting traditions of the Yuan Dynasty, such as Xu Wei, Wang Wei, Liu Wei, Du Qiong, Yao Yao and others. Xu Wei Shan Shui Dong Yuan, Ju Ran, the brush is vigorous and beautiful. Wang Yuxi used the ramie and fold belt to make mountains and rivers. It was complicated like Wang Meng, and Mo Zhu was very beautiful and was called the “mountain hand” of the Ming Dynasty. Liu Yu’s landscape is deep and deep, with rich pen and ink, near Wang Meng and Wu Zhen. Du Qiongshan ink is shallow in the mountains and waters, and is often dyed with a dry pen. Yao Wei’s main masters, Wu Zhen and Wang Meng, have a strong style. Their style of painting is called the pioneer of the Wumen faction.

There are also some painters who have not made their own contributions to the Zong Li faction. Such as the first time Ma Yuan, Xia Gui, after the teacher of the law, to the famous “Huashan map” Wang Lu; known as the school, to Tang Yan, Qiu Ying with a greater influence of Zhou Chen; good at ink and wash characters and landscapes of Guo诩, Shi Zhong; Du Fu and others who are known for their characters.

Medium Ming Dynasty
From the Zhengde (1506 ~ 1522) to Wanli (1573 ~ 1620) years, the rise of the Suzhou area, represented by Shen Zhou and Wen Zhengming, mainly inherits the tradition of Song and Yuan literati paintings, and has become the mainstream of the painting world.

In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, Suzhou, as the center of the textile industry, gradually became a rich metropolis in the south of the Yangtze River with the development of industry and commerce. The development of the economy promoted the prosperity of culture. At the same time, the humanities gathered together, and the famous people came out. The literati celebrities often banqueted drinks, poetry and sings, and many scholars of the literary mountains and forests also used painting to entertain themselves and push each other. They inherited and developed the traditional painting tradition of advocating ink and ink and morale and “escape”. In the meantime, Shen Zhou, Wen Zhengming, Tang Yin and Qiu Ying were the most famous. The history of painting was called Wumen. The painting school they created was called the Wumen School or the Wu School.

Late Ming Dynasty
From the Wanli to Chongzhen (1628 ~ 1644), there was a new turn in the field of painting. Xu Wei further improved the freehand drawing method of flower and bird painting. Chen Hongyu, Cui Zizhong, Ding Yunpeng, etc. created a deformed figure painting method. The Suzhou painter, represented by Zhang Hong, has taken a different approach in literati landscape painting and created a painting that is full of life. On the basis of inheriting the style and characteristics of the Wumen School of Painting, they innovated and returned to nature, and went to the mountains to write for life. The teacher naturally created and realized the true meaning of painting. In the painting, the extraordinary spiritual realm is reflected, and the landscape painting is alive.

The landscape paintings of the late Ming Dynasty were most famous by Zhang Hong, and the Wumen paintings entered the heyday. It has far-reaching influence on other painting schools. Among them, the more famous painter Mo Molong, the late painters influenced by the Wumen School, also have Cheng Jialu, Li Liufang, Yan Wenyu, Shao Mi, Yang Wenzhao and so on. Cheng Jiaxuan’s landscape is dry and simple, Li Liufang is refreshing and clear, and Qi Wenyu is a fine show. Shao Mi is a simple and elegant, and Yang Wen’s has both a dry brush and a beautiful look.

The Ming Dynasty literati ink paintings are also very developed. Song Ke, Wang Shu, and Lu Dezhi, who are famous for their ink bamboo, are famous for their beauty, such as Sun Yiji and Chen Charter, and Zhou Lanqi, famous for Molan.

Painting theme

palace
There was no formal Hanlin drawing house system in the Ming Dynasty, but like the dynasties, it organized a large number of painters to serve the court. During the period of Hongwu (1368~1398) and Yongle (1403~1424) in the early Ming Dynasty, the country was still in the stage of grass-roots creation. The painter enlisted in the palace and arbitrarily granted the title, such as Shen Xiyuan and Chen Yuan, who also enshrined Zhu Yuanzhang’s portrait. He was awarded a scholarship, and he was given a Wenyuan Pavilion. Some of them are awarded to the Wuying Temple for waiting, the Hanlin for waiting, etc., or for the cabinet, for the worship, and even for the camp. In the early Ming Dynasty, the paintings of the courts were mainly composed of figure paintings. For example, Hongwu’s life paintings were written by Zhu Yuanzhang, which was a difficult and entrepreneurial expedition. When Yongle was killed, the painter painted “Chinese Emperor Emperor’s Capricorn” on the wall of Wenhua Temple and ” Tang Taizong, Wei Zheng, ten maps. The murals of the courts and the temples were more than the hand of the court painters. At that time, the subjects who worked as the taskers were Zhou, Sheng, Zhuodi, Shangguan Boda and others. Painting portraits for the empress is also an important task for the court painters, such as Shen Xiyuan, Chen Yuan, Sun Wenzong, and Chen Yu. Other landscape painters include Zhao Yuan, Zhu Xi and Guo Chun, and flower and bird painters include Fan Si and others. Most of these painters are from Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, or Xueyuan people or teachers and Songs, and have not yet formed a unified style. Zhu Yuanzhang treated the painter very harshly. He was killed because he painted “Jellyfish by dragon” on the murals of Tianjie Temple. He was deliberately guilty of jealousy. Therefore, the painters were cautious and naturally limited their play and creativity.

After decades of recuperation, from the time of Xuande (1426 ~ 1436) to Hongzhi (1488 ~ 1505), the economy and culture have a prosperous scene. Xuanzong Zhu Zhanji, Xianzong Zhu Jianshen, Xiao Zong Zhu, and other scholars are good at painting, and the court painting has reached its most prosperous period. Among the court painters of this period, there were many famous people and talented people. Most of the painters were placed in the halls of Renzhi, Wuying, Wenhua, Huagai, etc., and they were awarded the ranks of military officers at all levels of Jinyiwei. The highest ranks were commanded by the commanders. The following are the command, the thousand households, the hundred households, the town, and the Promoted by work. Jinyi Weiben is the Guards of the Emperor, specializing in guards, arrests, prisons, and acts of ceremonies. The artist has given such a title because Jinyiwei has no fixed staff and can be placed at will, in order to support the money and the emperor. The court paintings of this period, from the perspective of the works of the world, the paintings of the figure paintings, one of which is to describe the story of the previous generation of “the Lord’s sages”, such as Ni Duan’s “Employment of Ponto” and Liu Jun’s “Snow Night Visit” “The picture”, Shangxi’s “Guan Yu’s picture”, Zhu Duant’s “Hongnongduhu map”, etc., the choice of the theme, full of certain political significance. The other is the description of the Emperor’s life and portraits, such as Shang Xi’s “Ming Xuan Zong Xing Le Tu”, An Ming’s “Ming Xuan Zong Palace’s Traveling Music”, “Ming Xuanzong Shooting Picture” and so on. Another category is the story of the gods and Buddhism, such as Liu Jun’s “Liu Haixiu Tu”, Li Zai’s “Qin Gao Cheng Tu”, and Huang Ji’s “Sword Map”.

In the court of the Ming Dynasty, there was also a popular “Golden Map”. The characters depicted were very expensive, or they were made by cars or errands. They also made fine works, and the goods were all valuable. They were definitely not ordinary folk francs. The court painter Xie Huan’s “Apricot Garden Collection”, painting ministers Yang Rong, Yang Shiqi, Yang Lan and other 9 people in the apricot gathering group image, we can see that the court painter also serves the minister. The landscape painting mainly inherits the traditions of the Southern Song Dynasty Painting Institute, especially the Ma Yuan and Xia Gui Schools. The composition is simple, and the pen is strong and the axe is awkward. Wang Wei was treated by Ren Zhi Dian, and was hailed by Ming Xiaozong as “Ma Zhi Yuan”. His works include “Jiang Ge Yuan Tu”. There are also many painters who follow the style of the Northern Song Dynasty on the basis of the Southern Song Dynasty. Among them, Li Zai and Zhu Duan, who are famous for studying Guo Xi. In addition, Shi Rui’s landscape paintings are more delicate, inheriting the paintings of the green mountains and rivers of the Northern Song Dynasty. These painters are all favored by Ming Xuanzong. After the Yongle, the court flower and bird painters gradually increased, and the achievements were also the most prominent. Bian Jingzhao, Lu Ji and others have fine paintings and rich colors. They are the inheritance and development of the traditional paintings of flowers and birds since the Five Dynasties. Lin Liang’s ink and wash brushwork has a great influence on the painting of future generations. Sun Long uses the colorless ink method, which is rich in originality and enriches the form and skill of the garden flower and bird painting.

In the mature period, the court paintings of the Ming Dynasty, which mainly inherited the painting method of the Song Dynasty, used the fineness of the Northern Song Dynasty and the simple and crude of the Southern Song Dynasty to form their own style, which was called the courtyard by the historical critics, or the school. The Zhejiang painters who are similar in style are also in parallel, and they are collectively known as the Zhejiang School. Become the mainstream of the painting world at that time. After Hongzhi, with the decline of the national power of the Ming Dynasty, the court paintings gradually declined, and they died. For the Ming Dynasty, there are more than 100 painters who have seen the literature and learned from the handed down works for the court service. In addition, the Fahai Temple in Beijing was built in the Ming Dynasty. There are 2 paintings of the paintings and the list of 15 paintings of the paintings, which are not included in the list. In the literature, I saw Zhu Duan in Zhengde (1506 ~ 1521) in the paintings of Zhiren Zhi Temple. The painter should be a lower-ranking artisan painter in the court of the Ming Dynasty.

Liu Jun (about the 15th century), the word Ting Wei, life experience, life is unknown. Because of his collection of works in the handed down works, he was known as the court painter. Workers and landscapes, characters, and courtyard style. The handed down works include the “Snow Night Visiting Putu” axis of the Palace Museum, and the painting of Zhao Yuxue’s visit to Zhao Pu’s historical story.

Shang Xi (15th century), the word Wei Ji, the famous court painter of Xuande, the commander of the official Jin Yiwei. Good at landscapes, figures, flowers, beasts. The handed down works include the axis of the Ming Xuanzong Legend of the Ming Palace Museum and the axis of Guan Yu’s Legend. The former picture shows the safari of Xuanzong Zhu Zhanji. The characters have portrait features, surrounded by mountains and trees, jungle buildings, and vast scenes. . The painter is delicate and the brushwork is strong. The picture on the back is bright and bright with mural effects.

Ni Duan (15th century), the word Zhongzheng, Xuande was a court painter. Good painting of landscapes, figures, and flowers, and the Southern Song Dynasty Ma Yuan. The handed down works include the hiring of Ponto (hidden in the Palace Museum) and the “fishing map” (hidden in Taiwan). .

Bian Jingzhao (15th century), the word Wenjin, from Shaxian, Fujian. Yongle to Xuande served in the palace in the early years, and he was awarded the Wuying Temple, and was known for his good paintings of flowers and birds. He inherited the tradition of meticulous paintings in the paintings of the two Song dynasties. The paintings and flowers are fine and precise, and the colors are rich and colorful. The main works handed down are the “Bamboo Crane Map” axis of the Palace Museum, the “Bamboo Crane Shuangqing Map” axis (cooperating with Wang Wei), the Shanghai Museum’s “Spring Bird and Flower Map” and the “Three Friends and One Birds” in Taiwan. Axis, etc. Among them, “Bamboo Crane Shuangqing Map” is elegant and elegant, and the crane’s feathers are slightly white powder, which is very harmonious with Wang Hao’s painted bamboo. The other three are typical works of his imitation Song Dynasty painting.

Sun Long (15th century), one for the dragon, the word Tingzhen, the number is idiot, Piling people. In the early Ming Dynasty, he became a descendant of the loyalty of Hou Xingzu. Xuande is waiting for the Hanlin, longer than the flowers, birds and fish, the flowers and birds are not outlined, dyed with color, Xu Chongzhen has no bones. In the court of the world, the flower and bird painter is a self-contained. The handed down works include the axis of the Furong Goose Map and the axis of the Snow Bird and Plum Bamboo. The Shanghai Museum’s “Flowers and Birds” and the Jilin Province Museum’s “Flowers and Birds” are all drawn by the boneless method. “Furong Goose Chart” is slightly ticked in the spot dyeing, the ink is moist and the color is beautiful.

Rural
With the development of commodity economy and the emergence of capitalism, folk paintings in the Ming Dynasty were more active, especially woodcut prints. The creators are mainly folk painters, but there are also some literati painters who participate in activities, such as Chen Hongyu and Xiao Yun from the woodcuts. They have created many drafts to meet the needs of printmaking. Folk scrolls, mainly composed of genre paintings, historical stories, ideological paintings, water and land paintings and portraits, have been handed down by many unknown folk painters.

The creation of murals in the Ming Dynasty was not as prosperous as the previous generations. The main thing in the world was the temple murals. More famous are the Fahai Temple murals in Beijing and the Yiyi Temple murals in Xinyi County, Shanxi. The Fahai Temple was founded in the Yuan Dynasty and was rebuilt in the Ming Dynasty. The emperor’s interpretation of the Brahma map on the north wall of the main hall is the work of the Ming Dynasty murals. The Yiyi Temple was first built in the Song Dynasty and rebuilt in the Yuan Dynasty. The main halls of the East, West and South are painted with murals of the Ming Dynasty. The subject matter is based on ancient myths and legends and social life, and is rare in temple murals. Others include the murals of Qinglong Temple in Lushan, Shanxi, the murals of the Pilu Temple in Shijiazhuang, Hebei, and the popular land and water paintings of the Ming Dynasty. The murals in the Lijiang Naxi Autonomous County of Yunnan Province are rich in local characteristics and also have certain representativeness. Woodcut New Year pictures gradually became common in the Ming Dynasty. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, the two major creative bases of Suzhou Taohuawu and Tianjin Yangliuqing North and South had been formed, which created conditions for the prosperity of the Qing Dynasty New Year paintings. The prints of the Ming Dynasty were in the heyday of the history of Chinese ancient prints.

The achievements of literary works such as opera, legend, and novels are the most outstanding, not only rich in content, but also in various forms. Many works such as the illustrations of the novel “Zhongyi Water Margin” and the opera “Wangjiang Pavilion” illustrations, heroes and free marriages, convey the people’s ideals and aspirations, distinctive personality, delicate emotions, flexible composition, all have high ideological And artistic. Chen Hongjun’s woodcut “Nine Songs”, “Water Margin Leaves”, “Bogu Leaves”, “West Chamber”, etc., have a profound impact on the development of prints. The achievements of the paintings are also very brilliant. Hu Zhengyan’s “Tianzhuzhai Paintings” and “Ten Bamboo Tastes” and “Luoxuan Ancients” have created a new technology for watermarking and color overprinting for Chinese engraving. The development of printing has made an outstanding contribution.

Mural
The murals of the Ming Dynasty in China are far less than the former dynasties, but the murals of the temples are still relatively developed compared to the tombs and the murals of the urns. They have also flourished under the advocacy of the ruling class. In the early period of the Ming Dynasty, many famous painters participated in the painting of murals. According to historical records, there are Yongle (1403~1424) court painters Zhuo Di, Shangguan Boda, Jieshang painted statues, Zhejiang founder Dai Jin, also in Jiangnan Baoen Temple, Huazang Temple, and mocking. The temples such as Ming Temple left behind the handwriting. Wu Wei, the sect of the Zhejiang School, painted murals such as the five hundred arhats and the Linggu Temple paintings in the Changhua Temple in Nanjing. However, most of the murals are still from the hands of folk painters, and the fine work has reached a high level. The murals are mainly religious, with water paintings and paintings, and Taoist paintings of Buddhism and Buddhism in Tibet and Qinghai. Individual temples also have murals based on historical legends and real life. The famous temple murals in the Ming Dynasty include Beijing Fahai Temple, Shanxi Fuyang Temple, Xinyiyi Temple, Lushan Qinglong Temple, and temple murals in Sichuan, Lijiang, and Tibet. The murals of the Fahai Temple in Beijing, the main hall retains the ten walls, especially the “Winter Brahma” of the north wall is most exquisite. It expresses the 20-day image of Buddhism, the Buddha, and the Brahman. The scene is grand, the layout is clever, and the unity changes. Characters are meticulous and exquisite, with personality characteristics, such as the solemnity of Brahma, the mighty king of Heaven, the fortitude of King Kong, the charmingness of the goddess, the kindness of the Emperor of the Emperor (the love of the mother), the innocence of the children of Huagai, and the innocence of the children. Really vivid. The lines are quite smooth, the colors are thick and colorful, and the use of the folk powder-paste gold method makes the murals shine brilliantly.

The Ming Dynasty murals preserved in Shanxi Province are known for their large number, diverse subject matter and strong artistic background. The murals of the Temple of the Virgin of Fuyang are Taoist images, and the story of the Western Queen Mother is painted on the three walls of the main hall. They are the “Festival Picture”, “Welcome the Driving Picture”, “The Lucky Image”, the dragon ceremonies, the return to the palace, the feast of singing and dancing, and the service of living. As well as the pavilion pavilion, the Quqiao gallery, the rich woman Baiguan, and the Maoshu famous flower, all reflect the shadow of the royal court life, full of strong secular atmosphere. The paintings of Xinyiyi Temple are based on ancient myths and legends, depicting the achievements of Daxu, Houyi and Boyi Sansheng for the benefit of the people. They are unique in temple murals. The main hall of the main hall is divided into “Pilgrimage of the Pilgrimage” and the legendary stories of Datun, Houyi and Boyi. Many of the plots, such as harvesting, catching, burning, and hunting, are taken from real life and full of genre paintings. The murals of the Qinglongsi Hall in Lushan Mountain are Buddhist statues, and the walls of the waist hall are painted with water and land paintings. The images include Buddhism Buddha, Bodhisattva, Mingwang, Luohan, Taoist emperor, Madonna, King Kong, Xingjun, and Confucianism. Women, filial sons, loyal ministers, etc., the story is ritual Buddha figure, six reincarnations, eight cold hell, Confucius North Korea, Su Wu shepherd, etc., like the mixture with the map, the interpretation of the Confucianism, the heavens and the earth, the gods and ghosts, all-encompassing, both preached The deterrent effect of religion also reveals many secular life scenes, which are the giant systems in the mural paintings.

The murals in Lijiang, Yunnan, centered on Baisha Street and represented by Dabaoji Palace and Dadinge. The content of Buddhism is closely related to Buddhism, Tantra and Taoism. It reflects the different religious beliefs of different ethnic groups and has unique local characteristics. For example, the 12th shop mural of Dabaoji Palace, the central painting of the No. 2 shop on the south wall, “The Buddha Statue of the Big Buddha, the Peacock Ming Wanghai”, is the image of the Tantric Buddhism, surrounded by Taoist twenty-eight places, the Dragon King, and the Thunder God. In the center of No. 7 shop in the west wall, the first ancestor of the white-painted lotus, the lotus ancestors, is called the descendant of the demon. The surrounding is the god of the hundred workers, showing the scenes of music, dance, pig, wood, textile, iron, fishing and so on. The No. 9 shop on the north wall is like King Kong, and the four statues on both sides are all pig-shaped. It is obviously a god statue. In the center of the 11th shop, the three halls of the sky, the earth and the water are painted. The Wenchang and Zhenwu are listed above. The following four days are purely Taoist statues. In terms of artistic techniques, the use of gold and Zhu lines is obviously influenced by Tibetan paintings, showing the blending style of Han and Tibetan. Therefore, the temple murals in the Lijiang area of Yunnan reflect the characteristics of the integration of national culture.

There are many temple murals left in Sichuan, including Longju Temple in Guanghan County, Guanyin Temple in Xinjin County, Jueyuan Temple in Wulian Temple in Jiange, Baofan Temple in Lianxi County, and Longzang Temple in Xinfan Town. It is a beautiful and vivid mural. In particular, the murals of Longzang Temple show the real life scene through the classic content of Buddhism, full of real life tastes. For example, in the story of the left and right wall of the good fortune boy, there are a lot of art boys, pure acrobatics in the Ming Dynasty. The art uses a combination of meticulous painting, line drawing and leaching powder to add gold. The color is bright and bright, and it is long-lasting and full of three-dimensional sense. It has a strong artistic appeal. The temple view murals in Tibet have more distinct local and national characteristics. Together with the Thangkabu axis paintings, they form a unique Tibetan painting. The subject matter is mainly based on the gods and secret religions of the cults, as well as the Tsongkhapa, the essays of the patriarchs, the history of the Princess Wencheng, the story of Tibetan reproduction and the folklore. In the art, the Han and the neighbors of India, Nepal and other neighboring countries are widely absorbed to form their own style. The composition is full, the image is exaggerated, the decoration is luxuriant, the line drawing is meticulous, the color is rich, and the contrast is strong. Special attention is paid to the use of gold, gold, dry paste, and gold grinding to make the murals dazzling and dazzling. This style of Tibetan painting affects neighboring areas. There are many temples in Tibet, such as Qinghai, Gansu, Yunnan, and Sichuan. The style of painting continued to the Qing Dynasty until near and modern.

Literature
The paintings of the Ming Dynasty are richer than the previous generations. Not only the history of paintings and paintings are numerous, but also the series of books, and the titles and notes have become more special. Among the historical genres, there are Han Ang’s “Spirit of Paintings and Paintings”, “History of Paintings”, and Jiang Shaoshu’s “History of Silent Poetry”. Among the argumentative categories, there are Wang Shizhen’s “Yiyuan Proverbs”, Dong Qichang’s “Paintings”, “Drawing Eyes”, “Painting Zen Room Essays”, Mo is Long’s “Paintings”, Tu Long’s “Drawings”, Tang Zhiqi “Thinking things”, Gu Ningyuan “painting” and so on. Among the categories of appraisal, there are Li Kaixian’s “Zhong Yi Paintings” and “Wu Jun Dan Qing Zhi”. Among the collections of paintings are Wang Shizhen’s “Drawing Garden” and Zhan Jingfeng’s “Art of the Garden”. It belongs to the class of recording, including Du Mu’s “Implications”, Zhang Chou, “Qinghe Painting and Calligraphy”, “Coral Net”, Yu Fengqing, “Yu’s Calligraphy and Paintings” and so on. In addition, Wang Li, Shen Zhou, Wen Zhengming, Tang Yi, Li Rihua, Chen Hongyi and other poems, inscriptions, and notes on the part of the painting theory, which have many insights.

Schools and painters

Zhejiang School of Painting (浙派, full name in Chinese: 浙江畫派)
Jiangxia School (江夏畫派)
Wulin School or Post-Zhejiang School (武林畫派, or 後浙派)
Dai Jin (戴進), Wu Wei (吳偉), Lan Ying (藍瑛) (Lan family)

The core place for this school was Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province. Jiangxia School from Hubei Province was a branch of this school. Dai Jin was the founder of this school, and he also kept a very close relationship with the Yuanti School.

Lan Ying was the last master of this school, along with his family members, they formed a branch of Zhejiang School—Wulin School, because their family was located in Wulin (武林), a place in Hangzhou near the West Lake.

Most of the painters from this school, they are Zhejiang natives.

Yuanti School (院體畫派)
Lin Liang (林良), Lv Ji (呂紀)

This school was organized and supported by the Ming central government, and it served for Ming royal court. The activity center for this school first was in Nanjing and then went to Beijing because of the change of Ming’s capital. The

Wumen School (吳門畫派)
Tang Yin (唐寅), Wen Zhengming (文徵明), Shen Zhou (沈周), Qiu Ying (仇英), Zhou Chen (周臣), Wen Jia (文嘉)

The primary location for this school was Suzhou, whose literary name was Wumen (吳門). Tang Yin, Wen Zhengming, Shenzhou and Qiu Ying, these four painters also were regarded as the “Big Four of the Ming Period” in Ming period painting.

Xieyi Huaniao (寫意花鳥)
Xu Wei (徐渭)

Xieyi Shangshui (寫意山水)
Chen chun (陳淳)

Songjiang School (松江畫派)
Dong Qichang (董其昌)

The core place for this school was in the southern part of Jiangsu Province at that time, but now part of Shanghai. During the late Ming dynasty, the Songjiang School rivaled Wumen, particularly in generating new theories of painting.[1]

Huating School (華亭畫派)
Zhao Zuo (趙左)

This school is close to Songjiang School.

Susong School (蘇松畫派)
This school is similar to Songjiang School.

Influences

Japan
Japanese Zen painter Xue Zhou and other people went to Ming China and studied painting in Ming China for about 10 years. He is deeply influenced by ink painting, Zhejiang painting school and Yuandi painting school.

He lives in Tiantong Temple in Mingzhou (now Ningbo) and spends his time in the Beijing Imperial Palace (Forbidden City). Before he went to Ming China, he studied the Song and Yuan landscape painting school in Japan, and wanted to find the origin of Chinese painting and the true spirit of Chinese art.

After returning to Japan, Xue Zhou and other Yang established his school and further developed his own painting style (Chinese painting school), which blended the traditional elements of Japan and became the most famous painting master of his Japanese era. Continue to the present has seriously affected the history of Japan.

Qing Dynasty painting
The paintings of the Ming Dynasty provided the foundation for the paintings of the early Qing Dynasty, from the skills, styles, themes and theoretical foundations. The concept of the North and South School developed by Dong Qichang in the late Ming Dynasty influenced more academic forms of painters, such as Wang Yuanqi, and provided inspiration for the bold creation of “individualist” painters such as Kun. Can and Shi Tao.