Scholar in a Landscape<br />

Description

Inscription: Painted by the old mountaineer, Lan Ying
Seal of the artist
An accomplished professional painter from Hangzhou, Lan Ying is considered the last master of the Zhe School. However, in his later years he created his own individual approach, selectively drawing upon the styles of earlier painters, notably those of the Song (960–1279) and Yuan (1280–1368) dynasties. The appealing use of color and lively, relaxed brushwork—especially the use of stippling or scattered dots to create texture—is characteristic of Lan Ying.
Winter 2015 Gallery Rotation
Lan Ying, an accomplished professional painter, is considered the last master of the Zhe School, which originated in his hometown in Zhejiang province. In this album leaf depicting a scholar crossing a bridge in the mountains, he skillfully plays with the sense of pictorial depth. The rendering is so ambiguous, for example, that it is difficult to determine what is rock and what is ground. Such attempts to disorient the viewer were regarded as sophisticated by art critics and connoisseurs at the time. The painting also demonstrates Lan Ying’s lively use of color, particularly in the blue, red, and yellow washes that suggest the tree leaves. Scattered dots applied with a dry brush are used to depict the vegetation in the fore- and middle ground, adding a sense of playfulness to the painting. This leaf originally belonged to a set that has been separated and dispersed.