Qiu ying biography of michael

       Into the Southern and Northern Dynasties (420-589), the south saw few major painters in the 5th century, but the settled reign of Wudi (武帝) in the 6th produced a number of notable figures, among them Zhang Sengyao (張僧繇, fl. ca.490-540), who was commissioned by the pious emperor to decorate the walls of Buddhist temples in Nanjing. All his work is lost, but his style, from early accounts and later copies, seems to have combined realism with a new freedom in the use of the brush, employing dots and dashing strokes very different from the fine precision of Gu Kaizhi.

       Painters in northern China were chiefly occupied in Buddhist fresco painting (painting on a freshly plastered wall). While all the temples of the period have been destroyed, a quantity of wall painting survives at Dunhuang (敦煌) in northwestern Gansu in the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, Qianfodong (千佛洞), where there are nearly 500 cave shrines and niches dating from the 5th century onward. Early Dunhuang paintings chiefly depict incidents in the life of the Buddha, the Jatakas (stories of his previous incarnations), and such simple themes as the perils from which Avalokiteshvara (Chinese Guanyin) saves the faithful. In style they show a blend of Central Asian and Chinese techniques that reflects the mixed population of northern China at this time.

       The patronage of the Sui (581-618) and Tang (618-907) courts attracted painters from all over the empire. Yan Liben (閻立本, ca.601-673), who rose to high office as an administrator, finally becoming a minister of state, was also a noted 7th-century figure painter. His duties included painting historical scrolls, notable events past and present, and portraits, including those of foreigners and strange creatures brought to court as tribute, to the delight of his patron, Taizong (太宗). Yan Liben painted in a conservative style with a delicate, scarcely modulated line. Part of a scroll depicting 13 emperors from Han

Qiu Ying

Movement

Charges

Qiu Ying is an Industrial EraGreat Artist in Civilization VI.

Great Works[]

Spring Morning in the Han Palace ( Landscape)

Fishermen in Reclusion among the Lotus Stream ( Landscape)

Red Cliff ( Landscape)

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Civilopedia entry[]

Qiu Ying was born around 1494 AD to a peasant family in Taicang and likely learned his craft under the painter Zhou Chen – a practitioner of the Wu School of painting – in the Suzhou region. Despite his humble origins Ying became associated with wealthy and influential art collectors such as Zhou Fenglai, Chen Guan and Xiang Yuanbian; his ability to copy paintings (today termed “forgery”) by earlier artists brought him much favor. In the process, he had the opportunity to copy and master the techniques of great artists in the Song and Yuan dynasties. As his “copying” skills matured, Qiu’s personal style gradually emerged. Soon enough he was producing original works – flowers, gardens, landscapes, architectural drawings – for his wealthy patrons.

His graceful, consummate work – he specialized in the gongbi brush technique – led him to be regarded as one of the “Four Masters of the Ming Dynasty.” Although the Wu School focused on ink washes and delicate colors, Ying also painted in the blue-green shan shui style (painting with mineral dyes). Ying’s use of the brush was meticulous and refined, his decorative painted scrolls orderly and well-proportioned, such as those of the 'Orchid Pavilion,' 'Jingu Garden,' and the 'Manyi Zhigong.' His work received the accolades of the Ming court literati, was highly prized, and hence was highly “copied.” (Indeed, his name was added to countless paintings done by other professional artists, making i

Painting attributed to Zhang Zeduan

Along the River During the Qingming Festival (simplified Chinese: 清明上河图; traditional Chinese: 清明上河圖; pinyin: Qīngmíng Shànghé Tú) is a handscroll painting by the Song dynasty painter Zhang Zeduan (1085–1145) and copied or recreated many times in the following centuries. It captures the daily life of people and the landscape of the capital, Bianjing (present-day Kaifeng) during the Northern Song. The theme is often said to be the spirit and worldly commotion at the Qingming Festival, rather than the holiday's ceremonial aspects, such as tomb sweeping and prayers. Read right to left, as a viewer would unroll it, successive scenes reveal the lifestyle of all levels of the society from rich to poor as well as economic activities in both rural areas and the city, and offer glimpses of clothing and architecture. The painting is considered the most renowned work among all Chinese paintings, and it has been called "China's Mona Lisa."

As an artistic creation, the painting has been revered and artists of subsequent dynasties made hundreds of replicas, copies of copies, and even forgeries of well-regarded copies, each following the overall composition and the theme of the original but differing in detail and technique. Over the centuries, the Song original was kept in private collections before it eventually returned to public ownership. The painting was a particular favorite of Puyi, the last emperor of China, who took it with him when he was for