When Yan Zhenqing was three years old, his father died of illness. Mother had to take him back to grandpa's house. Yan Zhenqing's grandfather is a painter and his mother is a sensible person. Seeing that Yan Zhenqing was clever, they taught him to read and write.
Yan Zhenqing practiced calligraphy with great care, never careless with strokes, and spent most of his time writing. The mother was both happy and sad to see her son practicing calligraphy so attentively. The good news is that my son will succeed in the future; What worries him is that his family is not well off, and where can he get spare money to buy him paper to practice calligraphy?
Yan Zhenqing is very sensible. Seeing that her mother was worried about having no money to buy paper, she quietly figured it out for herself. One day, Yan Zhenqing said happily to his mother, "I have a pen and paper, which costs nothing. Don't worry! " "Silly boy, how can pens and paper not cost money?"
"Look, isn't it?" Holding a bowl and a brush in his hand, Yan Zhenqing said happily, "This bowl is an inkstone, this brush is a pen, and the yellow mud in the bowl is ink!" "So ... where is the paper?" Mom asked again.
Yan Zhenqing pointed to the wall with his finger and said seriously, "This is paper. Do not believe me to write for you! " After that, he picked up the brush, dipped the bowl in mud, walked to the wall and wrote. When the wall was full of words, he washed them off with clean water.
Then write it again. Seeing that her son had a good way to practice calligraphy without spending money, the mother smiled happily. Because Yan Zhenqing is diligent and studious, he not only developed a good hand when he grew up, but also became a well-read young man.
In the 22nd year of Kaiyuan (734), Yan Zhenqing became a scholar and served as a supervisor in the temple. Later, because he offended Yang, the powerful minister, he was demoted to be the prefect of the plain and was called "Yan Plain" by the world. During the Anshi Rebellion, Yan Zhenqing led a crusade against the rebels. Later, he went to Fengxiang and was made a minister. When Tang Daizong was an official, he went to the official department of Shangshu Province, and a prince and a surname named him Duke Lu, which was called Duke Yan Lu in history.
In the first year of Xingyuan (784), he was sent to tell the rebel Li Xilie that he refused the thief in awe and was finally slapped to death. After he was killed, Cao's heirs and soldiers of the three armed forces cried. Posthumous title Si Tuleideng, posthumous title "in the text".
Yan Zhenqing's calligraphy is exquisite and good at it. Chu Suiliang, a beginner, studied under Zhang Xu and got his brushwork. Its regular script is dignified and majestic, and its running script is vigorous and powerful, which has created a "Yan style" regular script and has a great influence on later generations. Together with Zhao Mengfu, Liu Gongquan and Ou Yangxun, they are also called "four masters of regular script". Together with Liu Gongquan, they are called "Yan Liu" and "Yangu".
He is also good at poetry, such as You, Ji, Wu, Ji, Lu Ji and Linchuan Ji, all of which have been lost. The Song people compiled Yan Ji.
Yan Zhenqing's original calligraphy is magnificent and dignified, and its handwriting has changed from slender in the early Tang Dynasty to square and has a centripetal force. The pen is vigorous and powerful, and the central brushwork is good. Full of bones and muscles, but also sharp. Generally, horizontal painting is slightly thinner, vertical painting, point, skimming and pressing are slightly thicker. This book is magnificent in style and momentum, and has the spirit of flourishing Tang Dynasty.
His cursive script is vigorous, expressive, calm and vigorous, which opens up a complete life for the cursive script after Wang School. Yan Zhenqing's running script is vigorous and vigorous. This style also reflects the prosperous style of the Tang Dynasty empire and conforms to his noble personality. It is a typical example of the perfect combination of calligraphy beauty and personality beauty, so it is praised as "the second running script in the world" by later generations.
In the history of calligraphy, Yan Zhenqing created a unique realm of calligraphy with "Yan Ti". His calligraphy is characterized by excellent spirituality and natural magnificent realm; It is cast by its powerful soul, and its realm is naturally vigorous; It enriches the people, and the realm is naturally broad. In his youth, Yan Zhenqing asked Zhang Xu "how to be equal to the ancients".
This is the aspiration of Yan's calligraphy, and it is also Yan's flying mandarin fish. This strict Miao descendant who used a loess broom to sweep walls and learn calligraphy since childhood stood at a towering starting point of calligraphy almost from the beginning. In calligraphy, Kun Peng spread his wings, and it took almost thirty or forty years of experience to become his own face and climate.
Then after decades of hard work and enrichment, the "face and body" has both form and spirit. In his later years, he still pursued perfection and perfection. "Yan Ti" finally stands tall in the book world.
As stated in "A Brief History of China": "Ou, Yu, Chu and Xue in the early Tang Dynasty were only the inheritors of the calligraphy style of the two kings, and Yan Zhenqing in the prosperous Tang Dynasty was the creator of the calligraphy style of the Tang Dynasty. "Yan Zhenqing's regular script, especially the regular script after the Indian year, has formed a paradigm, and there are many learners in later generations, and there is even a saying that' learning books is beautiful'.
Baidu Encyclopedia-Yan Zhenqing