Chapter 12 The third quarter of Shenjun chasing the wind

In ancient social life, horses were indispensable and loyal assistants for people.Whether it is transportation, sports games, war, or farming, it is inseparable from it.Coupled with its vigorous body and chic demeanor, people especially like it and always regard it as a special aesthetic object.Throughout the ages, there have been many artists who molded and painted horses.In the Tang Dynasty, raising and painting horses became popular.According to historical records, there were 400,000 good horses in Tang Xuanzong's inner stables.The great poet Du Fu has a poem in "Dan Qing Yin Presents Cao Junba" that "the first emperor has a horse with a jade flower, and the painter is as different as a mountain", describing the grand occasion of horse painting at that time.The most accomplished horse painters in the Tang Dynasty were Cao Ba, Han Gan and Wei Yan, who were collectively called "Cao, Han and Wei" in the history of painting.It is a pity that there are not many reliable authentic works handed down to the present, only a few such as Han Gan's "Picture of Herding Horses" and "Picture of White Night Shining" (collected by the Metropolitan Museum of America).

Han Gan, whose birth and death are unknown.People from Chang'an.When he was young, his family was poor and he worked as a helper in a hotel.I often paint in my spare time.Once, he was ordered to deliver wine to the home of Wang Wei, a famous poet and painter.When the master was away, he used the waiting time to draw on the ground.When Wang Wei came back, he found that the young man was very talented in art and willing to work hard, so he subsidized him 20,000 yuan a year to learn painting.He initially worshiped Cao Ba as his teacher, and became the most outstanding student among Cao Ba's disciples.During the Tianbao period, Han Gan became famous for his paintings. Tang Xuanzong Li Longji called him into the palace and ordered him to worship the court painter Chen Hong (hong Hong) as his teacher.Later, Xuanzong saw that Han Gan's painting style of horses was different from that of Chen Hong, and asked why, Han said: "I have my own teacher, and the horses in your majesty's stables are all my teachers." It turned out that he did not simply imitate others. Instead, he took the horse as his teacher, carefully observed the various living habits and structural dynamics of the horse, and finally created his own unique style, becoming the famous horse painter who has the greatest influence on future generations.

Zhang Yanyuan, an art historian of the Tang Dynasty, once recorded such a legend: After the Anshi Rebellion, Han Gan held funerals at home.One night, suddenly a man wearing a tall hat and red clothes came in, claiming to be a "ghost messenger", and asked Han Gan to draw a horse.Han Gan immediately drew a horse and burned it (superstition says that if you burn it, you will give it to the ghost).Soon, the emissary rode the horse he had drawn and came to give a gift of thanks.This fictitious story shows that people in the Tang Dynasty believed that Han Gan was already a god in painting horses.

"Picture of Herding Horses" is 27.5 cm high and 34.1 cm wide, and is now in the National Palace Museum, Taipei.The picture shows two black and white horses and a horse herder riding on a white horse.The two horses are fat and strong, and they are mighty and handsome.They walk side by side with a bridle [pei pairing], and there is power in the calmness.The shepherd officer has a beard on his face, holds the rope with his right hand, and has a whip in his waist, with a calm and dignified demeanor.The entire painting first outlines the outlines of the figures and horses with thin iron wires, and then uses black paint to add a small amount of vermilion paint, rendering layer by layer to draw the structure and sense of volume of the horse.It vividly shows the characteristics of imperial horses, "bone strength chasing the wind, hair color shining on the ground", "odd hair and strange shape, muscles and bones are round".

The relationship between cattle and the upper class in society is not as close as that of horses.But it is the main labor force for plowing and farming, so in many works with the theme of farming customs, cattle have become an indispensable object of expression.In the Tang Dynasty, Dai Song and Han Huang were famous for painting cattle.The masterpieces handed down to the present include Dai Song's "Bullfighting Picture" (collected in the National Palace Museum, Taipei) and Han Huang's "Five Bulls Picture". "Five Cows" is 20.8 centimeters high and 139.8 centimeters wide, and it is now in the Palace Museum, Beijing.The five cows in the painting are lined up from left to right: one is walking slowly, one is looking back and licking [shi Shi] tongue, one is looking up and staring ahead, one is raising its head and croaking, and the other is scratching itches on thorn trees.Except for a small tree on the right at the end of the whole painting, there is no other background, so each cow can form a chapter independently.In terms of painting method, the painter first accurately outlines the different shapes and structures of each cow with thick brush and light ink, and then renders the eyes, nose, hooves, toes, fur, and color of the cow with light colors, so that it has a certain uniqueness. Volume and light perception.On the whole, the five cows are painted with a high spirit, a honest personality, vivid and natural, and quite the atmosphere of Tianjia life.Even more than 200 years later, Lu You, a poet of the Song Dynasty, looked at it and said: "...I felt that I was painting, which aroused the desire to resign from office."

"Five Bulls" breaks the decorative style of the Han Dynasty that only painted the sides and planes of cows in terms of the shape of the cows, vividly expressing various dynamics of the cows.Especially the cow in the middle, facing the viewer, has a unique angle, but the structure, proportion and perspective relationship are drawn very accurately.In addition, Tang paintings were mostly painted on silk, but "Five Bulls" was painted on paper.Paper has strong water absorption and is suitable for using the pen to its full advantage.The thick and varied line drawings in the paintings are extremely rare in Tang paintings.

There are very few paintings of the Tang Dynasty that have been handed down to the present, and this "Five Bulls Picture" has also been turned around several times.Before the Revolution of 1911, it was collected by the Qing court, and then brought to Tianjin by Pu Yi, and lost abroad. In 1958, Fang spent tens of thousands of dollars to buy it back from Hong Kong, bringing this rare treasure back to the embrace of the motherland. Han Huang (723-787 A.D.), styled Taichong, was born in Chang'an.His father, Han Xiu, was the prime minister during Xuanzong's time, and he was straightforward. "New Book of Tang" says that Han Huang "Although the prime minister's son, he is frugal in nature, and his clothes are changed every ten years. He doesn't hold a fan in extreme heat. He lives in a humble place and takes shelter from the wind and rain."Han Huang once served as the envoy of the two Zhejiang provinces, and later became the prime minister.During his tenure, he was able to go deep into the mountains and fields, organize the people to control water, raise fish, devote himself to farmland transformation and management, and made contributions to the development of agricultural production.After his death, he was named "Duke of the State of Jin".Han Huang has been intelligent since he was a child, and he likes painting.He learned calligraphy from Zhang Xu, and painting from Lu Tanwei, a painter of the Six Dynasties. "Famous Paintings of the Tang Dynasty" said that he "can draw pictures of the customs of the Tian family, the characters of buffaloes, and the music is wonderful";When his works were handed down to the Xuanhe period of the Song Dynasty (AD 1119-1125), there were as many as 36 pieces, but only one "Five Bulls Picture" has been handed down to this day.The "Wen Yuan Tu", which was once considered to be Han Huang's handwriting, has been verified by recent people as the work of the Five Dynasties.