Cao Ba (about 704 ~ 770), a native of Qiao County in Tang Dynasty (now Bozhou City), was a descendant of Wang Cao and a descendant of Cao Mao, an aristocratic township official of Cao Wei. Painters in the Xuanzong period of the Tang Dynasty were good at writing and painting, and even compared with their ancestors "Three Caos", and they had the reputation of "writing is like martial arts, and painting is like calligraphy and painting". He is good at drawing horses, the most famous of which is his apprentice Han Gan. Became famous in the kaiyuan period of Xuanzong. Tianbao (742 ~ 756) painted "Imperial Horse". He also made portraits and once restored the portrait of the hero of Lingyange. Du Fu wrote two poems, An Introduction to Dan Qing and Watching General Cao Draw Horses, and highly praised his painting skills. In his later years, he was demoted to Sichuan, with no official. Today's paintings are no longer in circulation.
Han Gan, a native of Jingzhao (now Xi, Shaanxi), was a famous painter in the Tang Dynasty. It is said that when I was young, I worked as an employee in a restaurant. With the support of Wang Wei, I have studied painting for more than ten years. He is good at drawing portraits, figures, ghosts and gods, flowers, bamboo and especially horses. He studied under Cao Ba and attached importance to sketching. During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, he was called into the palace and sealed as a "sacrifice". After that, I studied painting with Chen Hong, a famous horse painter in the palace. I often go to the stable to carefully observe the habits of horses, find out their personality characteristics, find out their movement rules and record all kinds of horses through comparison. After a long time, people were surprised that Han Gan often entered the stables and even moved to live with the keepers. Han Gan replied, "I learn to draw horses. All the horses in the stable are my teachers." . In order to get a deeper understanding of the horse's habits, he often observes for hours at a time, explaining the specific details that other painters don't know clearly and keeping them in mind. After such a long time, the horse's various physical characteristics, running majestic posture and ever-changing dynamics naturally live on paper when painting, so people all praise Han Gan's horse as a running horse.
Li (1049- 1 106) was a famous painter in the Northern Song Dynasty. When the word "Bo" is used, it is called "Longmian layman". Han nationality, Zhou Shu (now Shucheng County, Anhui Province). Shen Zongxi was a scholar for three years and joined the army to write a composition in Sizhou. He was recommended by Lu Dian, and was appointed as an official and suggestion in the province after the entry of Zhongshu. Good knowledge of ancient times, good at poetry, good at identifying ancient artifacts. Especially famous for painting, all figures, Buddhism, pommel horse, landscape, flowers and birds are meticulous, which is the first painting in Song Dynasty. He is especially good at drawing horses, and his characters and Taoist interpretations have won the favor of Wu Daozi. His brushwork is like flowing water, his shape is correct and his expression is flying. The landscape is exquisite and graceful, and Wang Wei is a true story; Taking landscape as the theme, pursuing Li Sixun's mentality; Draw a horse across Han Gan. Being able to combine the strengths of various schools, he has made great achievements, learned from nature, boldly innovated, and became a family of his own, and was respected by future generations as the first master of one hundred generations and a master of one generation. Handed down works include Five Horses Map and so on.
Zhao Mengfu (1254- 1322), whose real name is Ang, was a Taoist priest in Goulpeau Palace, and he worked as a monk in middle age. Han nationality, Xing Wu (now Huzhou, Zhejiang). Famous painter in Yuan Dynasty, one of the four masters of regular script (Ou Yangxun, Yan Zhenqing, Liu Gongquan and Zhao Mengfu). Zhao Mengfu is well-read, good at poetry and prose, familiar with economy, industrial calligraphy, fine painting, good at epigraphy, fluent in temperament and appreciation. In particular, calligraphy and painting achieved the highest achievements in the Yuan Dynasty, creating a new style of painting, which was called "the crown of Yuan people". Good at seal cutting, official script, authentic works, calligraphy and cursive script, especially regular script and running script. His specialty is painting grass, insects, birds and animals, and horses are his frequent subjects.
Lang Shining (1688- 1766), an Italian, was born in Milan. In the fifty-fourth year of Emperor Kangxi of Qing Dynasty (17 15), he came to China as a Catholic Jesuit monk and later entered the palace to become a court painter. In painting creation, Lang Shining fused Chinese and Western techniques to form a fine and realistic effect and created a new painting style, so he was highly valued by Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong. Nevertheless, Lang Shining, a foreign painter, must abide by the painting system of the Qing Dynasty, that is, draw a manuscript before painting, and then "paint as usual" after the approval of the emperor. The manuscript of Lang Shining's "Hundred Horses" collected by the Metropolitan Museum in the United States illustrates this point.