Artists › Painters and Calligraphers
Zhao Mengfu
Descendant of the Song imperial house who served the Yuan as a Hanlin academician and whose calligraphy and landscapes set the course of Yuan painting and writing
A desk holds an unrolled sheet bearing three bold black ink strokes, with a rack of many brushes above it, a stone ink slab and ink stick, a porcelain bowl, a red lacquer box, a dish of red seal paste and a paperweight; a small seated figure shows through a round window onto bamboo.
Also known as Zi Ziang · Hao Song Xue Dao Ren
Zhao Mengfu, courtesy name Zi'ang (Songxue Daoren), came from Wuxing in Huzhou and descended from Zhao Defang, a son of the first Song emperor. After the fall of the Song he lived at home until 1286, when Cheng Jufu, sent south to seek out men of talent, recommended him, and Khubilai made him a director in the Ministry of War; under Emperor Renzong he rose to recipient of edicts in the Hanlin Academy. He wrote every script from seal to cursive, and his manner became known as the Zhao style; his paintings include Autumn Colours on the Que and Hua Mountains and Watering Horses in the Autumn Fields. His wife Guan Daosheng and son Zhao Yong were also painters and calligraphers. He died at home in 1322 aged sixty-nine and was named Wenmin, Duke of Wei. Since the Ming he has been counted with Ouyang Xun, Yan Zhenqing and Liu Gongquan as one of the four masters of regular script.
Life and times
Song
YuanWorks
Literature · Poetry1- Tomb of Prince Yue of EYuanZhao Mengfu's regulated verse at Yue Fei's tomb on West Lake, a Song prince serving the Yuan
Treasures · Brushwork6- Zhao Mengfu, Origins of the Orchid Pavilion PrefaceYuan dynastyZhao Mengfu traces the Orchid Pavilion line
- Zhao Mengfu, Rhapsody on Living in LeisureYuan dynastyZhao Mengfu writes out a Jin rhapsody
- Zhao Mengfu, Poem on the Baotu SpringYuan, 1295A poem for a friend who had never seen his homeland
- Zhao Mengfu, The Two Odes on the Red Cliff in Running ScriptYuan, 1301Su Dongpo and the Red Cliff in Zhao Mengfu's hand
- Zhao Mengfu, Layered Rivers and PeaksYuan dynasty, 1303Rivers and ridges in a revived Song manner
+1 more
- Zhao Mengfu, Autumn Colors on the Qiao and Hua MountainsYuan dynasty, 1295Jinan's autumn hills painted for a friend
Family tree
- Direct kin
- Other kin1
