Artists › Painters and Calligraphers
Wen Zhengming
Suzhou painter, calligrapher and poet who failed the examinations, served briefly as a Hanlin attendant in the 1520s and led the Suzhou literary world for three decades after
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 Chu Mingbi · Zi Zhengming · Hao Hengshan · Zi Zhengzhong
Wen Zhengming, first named Bi, was known by his courtesy name and later took the courtesy name Zhengzhong; he came from Changzhou county in Suzhou, the son of Wen Lin, prefect of Wenzhou. He studied prose with Wu Kuan, calligraphy with Li Yingzhen and painting with Shen Zhou, and was one of the Four Talents of Wu, yet he failed the provincial examination time after time. In 1523 he went to the capital as a tribute student, and on the recommendation of the governor Li Chongsi he was made a Hanlin attendant and worked on the Veritable Records of the Zhengde emperor, but he felt out of place among colleagues who had passed the examinations and asked year after year to leave until he was allowed to retire. Back home, people came from all over for his poems, calligraphy and paintings, though he refused princes and eunuchs. He died in 1559 at eighty-nine.
Life and times
Dates 1470 CE–1559 CE