Yu was born in the fourth year of Shunzhi in Qing Dynasty (1647). His name is Shangji, also known as Shangji, Shangji, Shangji and Shenzhai. Originally from Xinghua county, Yangzhou prefecture, he was sent to Jiangdu. Because Yangzhou and Jiangdu were called Guangling in ancient times, they were often called "Guangling" by the Ministry of Autonomy.
I was born in a poor family. Xianfeng's Biography of Xinghua County and Yu recorded: "Young and humble, it is not even." When he was in his teens, he was Li's "Tsing Yi", that is, a boy servant. According to Qing Chao, "I started as Li Qingyi, and when I finished, I stole pen and ink, and Master taught him to specialize in painting." Li, one of the four surnames in Xinghua, is a descendant of the official in the late Ming Dynasty. His people are good at painting. Yu was a child in the Li family, and his master taught him to learn painting, which was his earliest painting enlightenment. Painting history still remembers him as "Lan Ying, a kindergarten teacher". At that time, Lan Ying was 72 years old, and it was impossible to accept a teenager as an apprentice. I learned Lan Ying's pen and ink, probably taught by his master. When I was in my twenties, I was famous in my hometown and was famous for my portraits. He met many local celebrities and painters and painted portraits for them. For example, when he was about 23 years old, he played the role of Wu. Wu was a famous poet and painter in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties. He is one of the "Nine Friends in Painting" and has made friends with Dong Qichang and Wang Shimin. At that time, he was over 60 years old. Please draw a portrait of Yu family to show his respect for Yu family. In the 13th year of Kangxi, Xu Hanlin, a famous scholar, came to Yangzhou to have a drink with calligrapher Jiang and poet Wang Maolin in Wang's "Love Garden" and was invited to attend. In order to record the situation of the party, he ordered the three characters played by Yu to be used as the volume of "Three-Son Joint Picture". At that time, 28-year-old Yu was able to attend the gathering of such a famous minister and official, and also drew a picture for him as a souvenir, which shows that he painted his name in Yangzhou.
According to the "History of Painting", he entered Beijing as a preface class of crack hon temple in Kangxi. Split Temple is an institution specializing in Chaohe celebration etiquette. "Preface class" is an official who is in charge of the shift of hundreds of officials. He is responsible for attending classes, adjusting classes, correcting rituals and spreading praises, and his rank is from nine grades. When Yu was appointed to this post, his position was very low, but he seemed to specialize in painting portraits, which was quite different from the ordinary class. At that time, the national strength of the Qing Dynasty was strong, and governors and foreigners kept coming to pay tribute. They were all accepted by crack hon temple. The main officials of each pilgrimage must be painted by painters, so they were appointed to this position. This has been specifically recorded in the literature. The preface to Volume II of the Collection of Xizhai by Wu Da, A Picture of the King Meeting of Yu Sheng in Guangling, says: "Ten countries, such as Kangxi Bingyin, Ding Mao, Korea, Annan, Ryukyu, Helan, Xiyang, Toulufan, Siam, Lama, Aru and Kekaifan, have their Wang Li Cong. The guests of the public are Guangling, the tripod of Yusheng, and good people. On the day of the public banquet, you need to follow with a pen, look at it from the side, fold a small piece of paper, write it roughly, and retreat to the silk book. All his clothes, swords and shoes, his hair and bones belong to gods and bones. All these are completed. The public has adopted the meaning of the chapter of the King's Conference in Zhou Shu and ordered it to be called the King's Conference. " The portraits of tribute messengers such as Bing Yin and Ding Mao in Yu Hua are just one example. In the twenty-first year of Kangxi (1682), he went to Ryukyu with Wang Ji and others, and also shouldered the task of painting portraits.
His mission to Ryukyu was the most outstanding achievement in his life. His portraits are well-known in Beijing and are closely related to this mission. In the winter of the twentieth year of Kangxi, Ryukyu came to make an appointment. In April of the 21st year, the imperial court elected Wang Ji and Lin Lin as deputy envoys. In August, the ambassador left Beijing for Fujian to go to sea, conferred the title of Sun Yat-sen King of Ryukyu in Ryukyu, and returned to the DPRK in the spring of the 23rd year. According to the literature, I also went to Ryukyu with this book. It is recorded in the preface to the map of the king's meeting: "Yu Sheng was once a wonderful talent and worthy of the ancients. Today, from the official to the Red-crowned Order Class, I was escorted to Ryukyu and entered Fujian. " Wang Huitu was written in the 27th year of Kangxi. Only twenty-one years ago, Wang Mingcai sent envoys to Ryukyu, so Yu should also be a companion. At the same time, in July this year, Yu also produced a volume of "Artful Map in the South of the City" for Wang Shizhen, Xu, Wang Youdan and Wang Maolin. From August to the spring of the 23rd year of Kangxi, there is no record of Yu's activities in Beijing, which can serve as circumstantial evidence that Yu was sent to Ryukyu.
In the 23rd year of Kangxi (1684), he returned to Beijing with Wang Ji, and his reputation spread far and wide at home and abroad. For example, Xianfeng's "Biography of Xinghua County Records" contains: "Kangxi gave a preface class to Hongqiao Temple and sent it to Ryukyu with the book, which is famous at home and abroad." Since then, his creation has entered its heyday, and celebrities in Beijing have asked him to paint portraits. "Jiangdu County Records Continued" Note: "Almost all the famous artists have painted it." At this time, he met more princes and princes, and his cultivation and painting skills were further improved. His creation not only left precious images of many famous figures at that time, but also showed his mature and delicate artistic style.
During this period, Yu created a large number of portraits, most of which were contemporary celebrities. For example, shortly after Kangxi returned to Beijing in the twenty-third year, he drew the Dongting Map for Cao Yin. Cao Yin, the ancestor of Cao Xueqin, was an official and supervisor of the imperial court and a favorite of Kangxi. In twenty-four years, he painted "Yan Ju Ke Er Tu" for Chen Tingjing. Chen Tingjing was an official college student, engaged in poetry creation, and was contemporary with Wang Shizhen and Wang Wan. In the twenty-seventh year, he painted the volume "Flute Elephant" for Zhu, including Zhu's son, Zhu Yizun, poetry, calligraphy and painting; In the twenty-eighth year, he painted "The Little Deer Fisherman's Figure" for Zhu Yizun. Zhu Yizun is a famous scholar. His poem and Wang Shizhen are also called North and South. After official examination, he entered the study room of Zhinan; In the same year, he painted "The Map of Jiangcun Returning to the South" for Gao Shiqi. Gao Shiqi was a famous collector, good at calligraphy and painting, and dedicated it to the imperial court, the official to the assistant minister of rites. These portraits of celebrities are very detailed and vivid.
Although Yu had a good reputation in Beijing, he was overwhelmed and upset by the endless stream of requests for painting and urgent requests for painting, so he went south in his forties. Zhang Qinggeng's "China Paintings of Past Dynasties" records: "There are Dingnan people who are in a hurry to ride and are not good at riding. They are in a hurry and are solid." Before I got up to offer my condolences, I ordered to write a small photo for Beaufort to take a pen, which was a great humiliation to Dr. Jiancha, so I decided to return to the plan. "In the spring of the 29th year of Kangxi, Xu retired and lived in Dongshan, Dongting, compiled a unified chronicle, and invited Yu to accompany him to draw pictures for the chronicle. It was a good chance to escape, and Yu readily agreed to go with him. He went south at the age of 44 in the 29th year of Kangxi (1690) and returned to the north at the age of 49 in the 34th year (1695). During my five years in the south, I mainly studied in Dongting with Xu Gan. During this period, I was paid by literati, not forced by your officials, and my creation was relatively free. In addition to portraits and elegant collections, there are other figure paintings, flowers, scenery and so on. My feeling is also leisurely, elegant or sincere. For example, on March 3rd, the thirty-third year of Kangxi, Xugan Academy invited Qian Luchan, Sheng, You Dong, Huang, Wang Rizao, He Bang, Zeng, Zhou Jinran, Qin Songling, Xu et al. 12 to build the Suiyuan, and asked Yu to paint and repair it. This painting depicts these respected literati, imitating Lanting, gardening and feasting for three days, and writing elegant poems, with the intention of conveying the lofty feelings of the literati.
He returned to Beijing at the age of 50 in the thirty-fifth year of Kangxi (1696) because he died of illness in the thirty-fourth year, and lived in Beijing until his death. In these 20 years, he has been painting portraits of celebrities, and many famous painters and calligraphers have also cooperated with him, or made up scenes or recited poems, leaving many well-crafted masterpieces. He also painted the life experience of Zheng Tong Gong Ding 'an, which belongs to the category of official performance drawings.
In his later years, Yu became more closely associated with some famous painters and painters, and often wrote poems or cooperated in painting together. Many famous people are also willing to write poems for them, such as the poem written by Zha for Fishing in Jiangxiang; Wang Shizhen, Luo Song and Song Zhi wrote poems for Washing Bamboo; Cha wrote poems for "Eight Figures" and others. Yu ranks among the literati and painters because of his humble position in the preface class of crack hon temple, which shows his status and reputation at that time. I became famous in my later years, but I still worked tirelessly to expand my painting style and strive to innovate. He carefully copied the names of his predecessors and explored new painting methods. While working hard in the field of portrait painting, I also dabble in ladies, flowers, landscapes and so on. , and strive to open up new themes. For example, at the age of 57, he drew a picture of a lady with a banana for his master, imitating Xu Wei's brushwork, and at the age of 62, he imitated Zhao Danian's "Xiao Qing Jiangxiang Map" axis; At the age of 63, he copied Ma's Map of the Western Suburb of Xun Mei. Although these themes have not become Yu's specialty, and his reform in his later years has not achieved remarkable results, we can see his constant pursuit and enterprising spirit for art.
Although Yu's portraits are unique, there are not many scholars. In the prevailing social atmosphere of literati landscape painting at that time, literati painters were dismissive of portraits that needed long-term and arduous basic skills training and dared not do it. Therefore, although there are many painters and few scholars, they have not created a new genre of figure painting after their fame. Only Yu's Eight Carvings (now in the Guangdong Provincial Museum) is very similar in painting style, with the same surname and native place, or a descendant or relative of Yu.
Landscape painting is the most popular painting world in the early Qing Dynasty, with many famous artists and schools. Known as the "Four Heavenly Kings in the Early Qing Dynasty", the famous literati painting school occupied an orthodox position, and among the four monks, the "Xin 'an Painting School" founded by Hong Ren and the landscape paintings of Shi Tao and Shi Huo also occupied their respective places. Flower-and-bird painting is also a school of its own, such as the "Changzhou School". Relatively speaking, figure painting is relatively rare. Although some famous artists appeared, such as Jiao Bingzhen, Yu, Wang Shuming and others, they did not form their own genre. However, figure painting has developed to a certain extent, which is the "Bo School" that appeared when Zeng Whale was unique in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties. On the basis of the traditional "portrait" technique, Zeng Whale combined the western painting methods and founded the "ink bone method" with ink smudge as the main method. There are many followers, such as Xie Bin, Guo Gong, Xu Yi, Shen Shao, Liu Xiangsheng, Zhang Qi, Bird, Ji Shen, Liao Dashou, Jin Mingshan, Gu Yunnai and Gu. , are his disciples. At that time, some painters who painted portraits were also influenced by it, such as Yu, Xu Zhang and He, among which Yu was the most famous.
Although Yu is famous for his portraits, his artistic skills are deep. He is widely involved in the field of painting, but also long pictures, ladies, landscapes, flowers and birds. He has been in and out of Lan Ying, Song and Yuan Dynasties, and has learned from many teachers: he is good at meticulous brushwork, freehand brushwork in ink and wash, line drawing, light color, boneless and other painting methods; Figure painting also includes ink bone painting, line drawing, Jiangnan painting and other techniques. Through extensive study and mastery, his portraits have not only reached the level of being handy and having both form and spirit, but also formed various styles and characteristics. Compared with portrait painters who specialize in one subject and one school, they naturally become outstanding.