Landscapes after Past Masters
1729
As Wang Yuanqi’s (1642–1715) best known and most important student, Huang Ding had studiously absorbed and excelled in the ancient masters’ styles endorsed by the “Orthodox School” painters of the early Qing period. This set of album paintings reflects Huang’s debt to these masters, including Fan Kuan, Fang Congyi, Huang Gongwang, Wang Meng, and Ni Zan, whose works were not readily accessible even during Huang’s time. Yet their styles were conventionalized and passed on from masters to students or made available in painting manuals. Huang was able to borrow their brushwork and compositions selectively to create a congruent set of images.
Ink and color on paper
Overall: 13 1/4 x 17 1/2 in. (33.6 x 45 cm)
Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection
56.50.8
Provenance: Yan Xinhou 嚴信厚 (1838–1907); C. C. Wang王季遷 (1907–2003)
Photo: Elizabeth Mann
