The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival is one of the top ten famous paintings handed down by China. It is a genre painting of the Northern Song Dynasty, and it is the only representative work of Zhang Zeduan, a painter of the Northern Song Dynasty.
The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival is 24.8 cm wide and 528.7 cm long, and it is in silk color. In the form of a long scroll, the work vividly records the city appearance of Tokyo (also known as Bianjing, now Kaifeng, Henan), the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty in China in the12nd century, and the living conditions of people from all walks of life at that time. It is a witness to the prosperity of Tokyo in the Northern Song Dynasty, and also a portrayal of the urban economic situation in the Northern Song Dynasty.
This is unique in the history of painting in China and even in the world. In the five-meter-long scroll, * * * painted a large number of various figures, such as cattle, mules, donkeys and other livestock, cars, sedan chairs, large and small ships, houses, bridges, towers, etc., which all reflected the architectural characteristics of the Song Dynasty.
From the Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival, we can see several very distinctive artistic features: this painting is written with pens and works, and its color is elegant, which is different from the general boundary painting, that is, the so-called "number of families". The composition adopts a bird's-eye panoramic view method, which truly and intensively depicts the typical area in the southeast corner of Bianjing at that time. The author uses the traditional hand-rolled form and "scattered perspective" to organize the picture. The picture is long but not redundant, complicated but not chaotic, tight and compact, in one go. The scenery in the painting is as big as the silent Yuan Ye, as big as the vast rivers and as big as the towering battlements; As small as the characters on the boat, the goods displayed on the vendors and the words on the market, there was no loss. The picture is interspersed with various plots, which is coherent and interesting at the same time.
content
Rich in content and depicting many things. The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival adopts the method of constantly moving the viewpoint, that is, "scattered perspective" to capture the required scene. From the vast Yuan Ye, the vast rivers, the towering battlements, to the nails and rivets on ships and cars, the small commodities on vendors, and the words on the market, they are all harmoniously organized into a unified whole. There are officials, farmers, businessmen, doctors, monks, Taoist priests, petty officials, women, children, teachers, telegraphs and other figures, as well as donkeys, cows and so on. There are fairs, trading, hanging out, drinking, parties, pushing boats, pulling carts, riding cars, riding horses and so on. There are many shops, hotels, teahouses and dim sum shops in the street, as well as towers, river ports, bridges, cargo ships, government buildings and thatched cottages.
There are different opinions about the number of people painted in The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival, including more than 500 people (Bai Shouyi's General History of China), 8 15 people (Tang Youchang's Meter Method), and Qian's Zhuo Juan Ba. In addition, there are more than 60 livestock and wooden boats. Such rich and colorful contents are rare in ancient paintings of past dynasties. People of all colors engage in various activities, not only with different clothes, but also with different facial expressions and temperament, and interspersed with various activities, full of dramatic plot conflicts, which make the audience have endless aftertaste.
structure
The structure is rigorous, complicated but not chaotic, long but not redundant, and the paragraphs are clear. What is commendable is that such rich and colorful content, prominent theme, echo from beginning to end, the whole volume is seamless. Every figure, scene and detail in the painting are arranged reasonably, and the relationship between the pictures, such as density, simplicity, movement, gathering and dispersion, is handled properly, so as to be complex but not miscellaneous, but not chaotic. It fully shows the painter's profound insight into social life and superb ability to organize and control pictures. From the content, this painting belongs to genre painting and also has the characteristics of genre painting.
Skills and technology
In terms of technique, the combination of big hand and fine hand brushwork. Be good at choosing things, scenes and plots that are vivid and poetic and have essential characteristics to express. Observe life very carefully and portray every character and prop. Everyone has his own identity, way and plot. Buildings, bridges and other buildings are rigorous in structure and detailed in description. Cars, horses and boats cover everything, so we should be small without losing the whole picture and its potential. For example, the objects on the ship, the way of nailing and riveting, and even the method of tying the rope are all explained clearly and magically.
The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival adopts the method of constantly moving the viewpoint, that is, "scattered perspective" to capture the required scene. From the vast Yuan Ye, the vast rivers, the towering battlements, to the nails and rivets on ships and cars, the small commodities on vendors, and the words on the market, they are all harmoniously organized into a unified whole. There are officials, farmers, businessmen, doctors, monks, Taoist priests, petty officials, women, children, teachers, telegraphs and other figures, as well as donkeys, cows and so on. There are fairs, trading, hanging out, drinking, parties, pushing boats, pulling carts, riding cars, riding horses and so on. There are many shops, hotels, teahouses and dim sum shops in the street, as well as towers, river ports, bridges, cargo ships, government buildings and thatched cottages.