Ming Dynasty was a period of rapid change in feudal society in China, and the development of painting was tortuous. Figure painting in Ming Dynasty once had good development conditions, but for various reasons, it developed slowly and was not as prosperous as landscapes and flowers and birds. Judging from the whole development history of China figure painting, although the Ming Dynasty was at a low ebb, there were also some promoting factors that had an impact on the later development of figure painting, such as the factors that promoted the development of court figure painting in the Ming Dynasty, which became a weak bright spot in the art history.

The rulers of the Ming Dynasty advocated Zhu Cheng's Neo-Confucianism "the way of being a saint"

As the spiritual pillar of maintaining its feudal rule, painting creation emphasizes its social function of coordinating up and down and strengthening ideological rule. Therefore, at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, a group of accomplished painters were recruited and called to the court to paint, forming a professional creative team, some of whom were engaged in figure painting.

When Cheng Zu set up a royal couch in the west hall of Wenhua Hall, he ordered people to draw a picture of China's remonstrance and hung a picture of Ten Thoughts of Emperor Taizong on the left. Later rulers, when doing something or wanting to do something, also paid attention to the creation of historical figure paintings.

In addition to creating figure paintings with historical themes, court painters also create figure paintings with the contents of Chess Manual, Song Feng Gaoshitu, etc., with free and easy brushwork and full of literati painting characteristics.

In order to encourage the creation of court painters, the Ming government adopted the policy of giving priority to painters. In the early Ming Dynasty, a hall of benevolence and wisdom was specially set up for painters.

The court painters of past dynasties valued Renzhi, Wuying and Wenhua respectively.

The imperial court awarded different official positions according to each person's specific situation, and professional painters awarded thousands of households, hundreds of households and town officials to the Royal Guards. The reason why Wu Zhi awarded the painter is mainly because the official position of the Royal Guards is "impermanent in favor" and easy to install. The Royal Guards are the emperor's bodyguards. They are in charge of the prison. They have a bad reputation. "Before Jiajing, the children of civil servants were too arrogant" (Seventy-one in the Ming Dynasty), but the position of the painter Jin Yiwei was awarded, which showed the emperor's spiritual honor and material satisfaction to the painter. Some of them were rewarded for their paintings meeting the wishes of the rulers. For example, Wei Wu, a court painter, was named the "top painter", which also promoted the production of many fine works.

These are all aspects that the Ming court attached importance to painting and talented painters. On the other hand, due to Zhu Yuanzhang's many suspicions and strict law enforcement, not all painters can get good prices.

The first serious damage to court painters occurred in the Hongwu Dynasty. Well-known things, such as Zhou's position of "painting the wall in the palace with more pens", were hanged because of mutual jealousy among colleagues; Sheng Mao's nephew, a famous landscape painter, was abandoned because he didn't show the back of Lapras, a mural jellyfish, at Tianjie Temple in Jinling. The painter Zhao Yuan used to be ordered to paint a portrait of a saint, so he should sit by the law in response to his failure.

Huang Zongxi said in the preface to the words and deeds of famous officials in Ming Dynasty that the figures in Ming Dynasty were not inferior to those in Han and Tang Dynasties. "They are not as arrogant and extravagant as the English of the Han and Tang Dynasties, and they are bound by the legal system, but they can't do whatever they want" (Wen Ding in Nanlei, Volume 4). "Respect the monarch and humble the minister" and "inexhaustible things" are a summary of Ming Dynasty politics. The same is true of observing the painting situation in Ming Dynasty. Therefore, relying on the ancient history, expressing the ideal relationship between monarch and minister and the theme of virtuous monarch and good official, using the ancient to praise the present and entertaining education have become the main contents of court painting. In addition to portraits, the palace paintings of Ming Dynasty left today also take historical pictures as important themes, such as Ni Duan's "Hiring Pang Tu", Liu Jun's "Visiting Pu Tu on a Snowy Night" and Zhu Duan's "Crossing the Tiger with Hongnong", which have a great influence on the creation of historical figure paintings in the future.

The techniques of figure painting in court painting in Ming Dynasty have reached a high level because of inheriting the achievements of predecessors. They are good at solving the conceptual structure of figure painting and the system of figure dress, the scale of the palace, the historical concreteness of the situation of mountains and rivers in the city and so on. However, behind the pen and ink, there is always an uneasy heart hanging. The freedom of creative thinking affects the ideological depth and artistic height of works, which is also the limitation of court painters.

As a court painting, it is also worth mentioning that all rulers painted during the years of Xuande, Chenghua and Hongzhi in the Ming Dynasty. Xianzong Zhu Jianshen is good at figures. Seeing his "A Good Painting of the Year" has a certain height from figure modeling to pen and ink treatment. As a member of the character creation team, they also played a certain role in the development of painting at that time.

The painting styles of court paintings in Ming Dynasty are diverse. In the early Ming Dynasty, a large number of painters were recruited, but they were not as tightly organized as the Song Dynasty Painting Academy, and there was no complete system for training and selecting painters.

The talent system is mainly to test and recruit talented painters nationwide, which is characterized by the fact that the recruited painters enter the court with their own different styles and characteristics. Therefore, different styles and characteristics have influenced the individualized development of palace figure painting. For example, Dai Jin painted figures with iron wire and blue leaves, Wu Wei painted figures with bold strokes, and so on. Different faces reflect the pursuit of individuality by figure painters.

Many court painters in the Ming Dynasty painted murals, including court murals and temple murals, which were also part of court paintings in the Ming Dynasty. However, palace murals are rare, and there are still many religious murals. Compared with the previous generation, the religious murals in Ming Dynasty were in decline. In the early Ming Dynasty, the policy of rectifying religions was implemented, and Taoism and Buddhism were cut down. However, after Jingtai and Chenghua, the number of temples increased greatly. According to the records in Ming Hui Dian (volume 104), in the seventeenth year of Chenghua, there were as many as 639 official temples inside and outside Beijing, and the number increased one after another. It can be inferred that there were still many religious murals at that time, but not many excellent works. Xu Qin, a Qing Dynasty man, said in Volume I of Painting Records of the Ming Dynasty: "A modern master can't be good at the scene, but he is disdainful. The monk's workshop is full of vulgarity, and no one can be seen again. " Dolma Liu, Shang Xi, Shangguan Boda, Dai Jin and Shang Xi are all famous court painters, except Dolma Liu. Although these temple murals no longer exist today, the management structure and painting characteristics of Guan Yu's giant axis are complete. It can be said that mural art has a reference and promotion effect on the creation of large figure paintings in art and technology.

Another outstanding aspect of court painting in Ming Dynasty is portrait painting, especially the portrait of Empress Dowager Cixi. Among the existing works, emperors are the best, most of them have both form and spirit, and their realistic skills are extremely high, which reflects the improvement of the painter's ability to express characters. Famous painters in the history of painting are Chen Yu, Chen Yuan, Sun Wenzong and Shen Xiyuan. Yongle dynasty has Chen Hui; During Hongzhi period, You Jiang and others had a great influence on portrait creation in figure painting. Among the portraits of emperors in the Ming Dynasty, the works full of vitality belong to the category of "amusement maps", and most of the masterpieces were left by Xuanzong when he proclaimed himself emperor. Shang Xi's "The Pleasure Map of Xuanzong" depicts Zhu Zhanji and his eunuchs riding horses and hunting, which belongs to the nature of collective portrait. Another painting in the Forbidden City, The Joy of Xuanzong, depicts six scenes of Xuanzong watching sports activities such as riding and shooting, cuju and pot throwing. What is even more exciting is a small "Shooting and Hunting Map of Xuanzong", which depicts Zhu Zhanji in the natural environment of Shan Ye, carrying his prey and staring back at another flying roe deer. The image is vivid and vivid.

The author depicts the brave and calm temperament of Xuanzong, but it is more natural. Zhou Quan, a court painter, painted the "Shooting Pheasant Map", which depicts the pheasant flying out of the bush after the rider is shot by an arrow, and the treatment method is similar. These vivid pictures with scenes and plots enrich the creation of portraits.

The efforts of court painters in the Ming Dynasty in the creation of figure painting had an impact on the development of figure painting later.