Living in the Mountains 1786

Shen Zongqian was born in Wucheng, the modern city of Huzhou in Zhejiang province. While Shen only earned the first literary degree, he became a well-known scholar, calligrapher, and painter. In 1781, he published the Shenzhou Xue Hua Pian, an influential treatise on painting in which he passionately defends the conservative or orthodox view of landscape painting. In it, he writes: Many of those who look at art do not really understand it. They decry the orthodox style and praise those who follow the vogue of the day. The struggling artist who does not stand on his own is easily tempted to go with the crowd...One must always keep in mind what a painting is and try not to forget it and strive to perfect oneself and in this way, come near to the great masters (of the Song and Yuan dynasties). Typical of the orthodox style, the brushwork of Shen's painting is methodically applied using a limited range of textures and tonalities serving to unify the various parts of the composition.