"The Overlapping Mountains of the Yanjiang River"
Wang Shen (shēn)
Hand scroll on silk with color and length 45.2 cm long and 166 cm wide
Collected by Shanghai Museum
This painting depicts mountains rising steeply above a vast and empty river filled with smoke. The ethereal river surface and the majestic mountains form a clever contrast between reality and reality. The peaks are towering, the streams and waterfalls are flowing, the clouds are puffing up, and the vegetation is lush, making it appear vigorous and lively. The artist used ink brushes to smear mountains and trees, and used green and heavy colors to render them, which not only shows the elegance of Li Cheng, but also the magnificence of Li Sixun. Deng Chun's "Hua Ji" said that Wang Shen "painted landscapes that imitated Li Cheng's method, using gold and green for them, like "Ancient" can be seen here. Wang Shen, courtesy name Jinqing, was born in the third year of Jingyou (1036) of Emperor Renzong (Zhao Zhen) of the Song Dynasty. He was a native of Taiyuan and later graduated from Kaifeng. Married to the princess of Shu, the daughter of Yingzong (Zhao Shu), and served as an official in the defense history of Lizhou. Wang Shen has many talents and is proficient in calligraphy, poetry and painting. He himself once said: "It is natural to love poetry and painting." He specializes in landscapes and is good at both ink and painting, as well as the beauty of gold and green. Teng Gu, a recent scholar, said in "History of Painting of the Tang and Song Dynasties" that he "lived in wealth and luxury, so he had to reflect the delicacy and richness in his paintings. Because he was essentially a scholar-official's talent, he had to retain the greenery of the world in his paintings." ""Snowy Fishing Village" is Wang Shen's typical work. The content is about a fishing village, and it is a work written after being demoted from an official position and getting closer to people's lives. There are people fishing, people pulling cum, and people pulling nets. The fishermen drinking in the boat represent the hard life of good fishermen who cannot rest despite the snow and cold. Of course, it also reflects their spirit of not being afraid of hardship. In addition, this "Light Snow Picture" is a precedent for the ink painting school. The snow scenes are all painted with white powder. Houses, fishing boats, people's faces, and the old trunks of trees are all slightly light ocher, and the water surface and sky are dark green to set off the white snow. The mountains, rocks and forest ranges are not painted with gold, but also use the strong and steep chamfering method and the subtle and changeable dyeing method. This form of ink and gold powder is very distinctive. The landscape scenery includes the cold ponds in the distance, the towering jade peaks, the gurgling springs, the winding old trees, the mountain forests, the spring rocks, and the twists and turns. It is really ten miles deep and hundreds of miles wide. The mountains and rivers are so beautiful and graceful that it is amazing. "Picture of Cockroaches on the Smoke River" is one of the only four copies handed down from generation to generation. The one currently in the Shanghai Museum is the one collected by the Qing Dynasty.