Animal Paintings of the Two Song Dynasties

Carrying on the tradition of the Tang and the Five Dynasties，more and more horse painters appeared in the Song Dynasty（960-1279）.For instance，Li Gonglin of the Northern Song（960-1127），also good at character sketching and landscape and bird-and-flower drawing，used the technique of bai-miao（line drawing in traditional ink and brush style without filling in any colors）to paint horses.His well-known horse works include the“Picture of Five Steeds”–a portrait of five fine horses presented to the emperor，and “A Copy of Wei Yan’s‘Picture of Herding Horses’，”which depicts a tremendous spectacle of more than 1，000 horses being pastured simultaneously.Court painter Chen Juzhong of the Southern Song（1127-1279）painted many images of spirited horses in his history paintings such as the“Picture of Wenji Returning to Han.”

Meanwhile，painters like Yan Ciping，Li Di，Feng Qing and Yi Yuanji took cattle，camels or monkeys as their favorite subjects.What’s more，painting the appealing images of cats and dogs on small-sized paper or round fans became a fashion during the Southern Song Dynasty.

Monk painter Fa-chang living in the last years of the Southern Song painted flowers，birds and animals with freehand brushwork，making a sharp contrast with both the decorative court painting and the elegant literati painting in style.His works had produced an immense impact upon painters of the Ming and Qing dynasties.

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