Artists › Painters and Calligraphers
Wang Shimin
Taicang painter and grandson of the grand secretary Wang Xijue who learned from Dong Qichang and headed the early Qing orthodox landscape school of the Four Wangs
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 Xunzhi · Hao Yanke
Wang Shimin, courtesy name Xunzhi and known as Yanke, came from Taicang and was a grandson of the Ming grand secretary Wang Xijue; through his grandfather's merit he rose to vice-minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. His grandfather, who had him late in life, kept him at a country villa among the family's collection of old masters, and as a youth he was taught by Dong Qichang. After the fall of the Ming he stayed at home and gave himself to painting, studying above all the brushwork of the Yuan master Huang Gongwang. Painters came to him from all over the region; the young Wang Hui, brought to him by Wang Jian, lived at his estate for some twenty years copying old paintings, and his grandson Wang Yuanqi learned painting from him directly. He died in 1680 at eighty-nine. Later critics grouped him with Wang Jian, Wang Hui and Wang Yuanqi as the Four Wangs and regarded him as founder of the Loudong school of Taicang.
Life and times
Dates 1592 CE–1680 CE