Chapter 103 Shuangqitu Tang/Wei Yan

Wei Yan was also a famous horse painter in Tang Dynasty. "Records of Famous Paintings of the Tang Dynasty" says that Wei Yan's horses may fly, lean, bite, drink water, startle, stop, walk, rise, tilt, or stand up. Or a touch of the tail", a combination of various shapes and techniques.His painting of horses is not as detailed as Han Gan's, but he paints them at will with a natural state of mind. Probably after the "Anshi Rebellion", he also fled to Chengdu and became good friends with the great poet Du Fu. Du Fu once wrote "Wei Yan's Painting of Horse Songs on the Wall" and "The Song of Wei Yan's Shuangsong Song" in praise of his paintings. .

It is said that once, Wei Yan had to leave Chengdu for business, and before leaving, he made a special trip to Du Fu's thatched cottage to say goodbye. He knew that Du Fu liked his paintings, so he drew a picture of "Two Horses" on the wall.Du Fu read it, and wrote "Wei Yan's Horse Songs on the Wall": According to the "Xuanhe Painting Book", there were still 27 paintings by Wei Yan in the inner palace of the Song Dynasty, and the only one that can be seen today is the "Picture of Two Riders".

In the painting, there are two people riding horses and galloping side by side. The white horse in the middle has no head, but the knight has obviously pulled the rein to turn its head to the left rear. That is to say, the knight in red is about to change his course. direction.The rider behind has almost ran out of the frame, and has no intention of stopping and changing direction.So what is the relationship between these two?Why is there such a composition? If you look carefully, you will find that the bearded knight in front is holding a whip in his left hand, looking back at his companion who is about to turn, and talking something in his mouth.His right hand was pointing to the right where they were running, as if telling his companions that the direction was correct and they should continue to move forward.

It doesn't matter whether they continued to move forward or changed direction. The important thing is that Wei Yan not only drew two galloping horses, but also had a certain plot, which made the picture come alive at once. "Picture of Two Riders", album, silk, ink and color.It is 31 cm long and 44.5 cm wide.Made by Tang Weiyan.It is now in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, China.