Characters of the Qing Dynasty
Real name: Leng Mei
Alias: Kinmen Painting History
Font size: Jichen
Era: Qing Dynasty
Nationality: Manchu
Place of Birth: Jiaozhou, Shandong
Time of Birth: About 1669
Date of death: 1745
Main works: "View of Plum Blossoms in the East Pavilion", "Tongyin Embroidery Picture" (History lishixinzhi.com) (History lishixinzhi.com)
Main achievements: "Longevity Picture", "Summer Resort Picture"
Nationality: Chinese
Research on Leng Mei's life
Leng Mei's life in Jiaozhou The first ancestor was Leng Chaoyan, a famous painter in the late Yuan Dynasty. Because of his contribution in painting portraits for Emperor Shun of the Yuan Dynasty, Emperor Shun rewarded him with several hectares of land in Huangbuling, Jiaozhou, and he lived there. Huangbuling, where his ancestors originally lived, was in the west of Jiaozhou City, about three miles away from the city. Several generations before Leng Mei had moved to Fenshuiling Street in Jiaozhou City (today's location of Jiaozhou Central Hospital in Qingdao City).
Leng Mei was introduced to the palace by his teacher Jiao Bingzhen about the 35th year of Kangxi (1696). At that time, "Bingzhen was commissioned to draw the "Farming and Weaving Picture", and Mei Fu assisted it." This picture was created by The two men drew 46 paintings separately, expressing the folk "village scenery, the hardships of the field family, the music to its fullest, and the deep understanding of the sacred heart". Since Leng Mei lived in the inner court for most of his life, the outside world knew very little about him. After Leng Mei entered the inner court, the most famous paintings he created in the later years of Kangxi were "Longevity Picture" and "Summer Resort Picture".
"Zengxiu Jiao Zhi" records: Leng Mei's "paintings are exquisite, his colors are exquisite, and his figures are particularly outstanding". He once wrote "The Picture of Tongye Fengdi" which was particularly famous at that time. There are several copies. It was written by Emperor Yinren because of his love for Prince Zhuang. According to the Qing Dynasty Painting Collection by Zhang Geng of the Qing Dynasty, the four major painters from Shandong in the early Qing Dynasty were "only Bingzhen and Mei, and Jiaozhou natives Fa Ruozhen and Gao Fenghan." Leng Mei was talented, diligent and studious, and his solid painting skills were quickly appreciated by the emperor. Around the 50th year of Kangxi (1711), he had become the leader of the Inner Court Painting Academy. This can be seen from the signature at the end of the volume of the "Longevity Picture" of the 60th year of Kangxi's reign, which was collaborated by 14 famous court painters headed by him: "In the spring of the first month of the fifty-sixth year of Kangxi's reign, Leng Mei... Xu Mingshi painted it respectfully." "Longevity Picture" It was started in the 52nd year of Kangxi (1713) and was initially hosted by Song Junye. After the draft was completed, Kangxi appointed Wang Yuanqi as president. Wang died of illness two years later, and Leng Mei took the lead in all paintings. From the inscription on the scroll, it can be seen that this picture is a record of Kangxi's "sixty-thousand-year-old" celebration scene. "The places along the chariot road are drawn as pictures." The celebration scenes here were faithfully recorded. From on-site sketching to completion, the project was so vast and arduous.
"Summer Resort" was painted before the 52nd year of Kangxi (1713). This picture depicts the overall view of the plain and lake area of ??the Chengde Summer Resort in Hebei Province, with the 30 scenes of the Rehe Palace Rear Garden as the theme. This giant landscape painting is 2.548 meters long and 1.725 meters wide. On this fine silk, which is only a little over 4 square meters, Leng Mei fully incorporated the vast and open back garden of the villa and the distant mountains into the painting. It is known that the Summer Resort covers an area of ??about 5.6 million square meters and is a rare large-scale garden in my country. Leng Mei not only compressed the panoramic view of the garden into the painting, but also fully expressed the majestic style of the mountains surrounding the resort. , extending people's sight to the infinite space hundreds of thousands of miles away. It shows that he has a high degree of generalization ability and superb artistic expression skills. This painting has elegant colors, bright style, rich decorative interest, changeable brushwork, smart and harmonious style. It is not only a landscape painting with high artistic attainments, but also an architectural pattern of a summer resort. The Summer Resort has been rebuilt many times, and its original appearance has changed greatly. However, he left for future generations this relatively original royal garden pattern from the early Qing Dynasty, which is extremely precious.
Leng Mei's outstanding performance in painting skills was appreciated by Kangxi.
But during the Yongzheng period, he was ignored and expelled from the Palace Painting Academy. During the thirteen years of Yongzheng's reign, Leng Mei's name was no longer in the Qing palace archives. Leng Mei left the court and became an opposition painter. At this time, Leng Meiduo was living in the Hongju Mansion of Prince Bao. He once painted a painting for Prince Bao called "Commander Ruyi Tianhua Falling". The top center of the painting was stamped with the seal of "Serving the Duke of the State", which can prove his This experience. During this period, Leng Mei created works such as "Farm Story Book", "Getting Fruit Picture", "Ready-made Clothes Picture", "Horse Stove Picture", "Mulberry Picking Picture", "Paper Kite Picture" and other works. In these paintings, there is no " It is inscribed "Chen", and Qin has the Zhuwen seal "History of Kinmen Painting", which was his special seal when he was painting outside the palace. Relevant experts analyzed that the Western painting techniques brought by European missionary painters and the Chinese and Western painting styles, although unique in addition to the traditional painting style, were also the real reasons why Leng Mei was expelled from the art academy. Yongzheng did not like Chinese painting to be mixed with Western painting techniques, and Leng Mei, his teacher Jiao Bingzhen and others were the representative figures who absorbed Western painting techniques. Painters such as Xu Mingshi were also expelled from the Art Academy at the same time as Leng Mei. Castiglione's apprentices Chashiba, Fu Hong, Wang Wenzhi and others who also worked at the Art Academy were also sent back to their home banner.
Qianlong was an emperor with a keen eye and talent. Before he ascended the throne, he had noticed Leng Mei's works. Therefore, after he came to power, Leng Mei's name suddenly appeared in the work files of the Qing Palace Construction Office, and it appeared frequently, with as many as dozens of entries. The earliest one is: "On the ninth day of the first lunar month of the first year of Qianlong (1736), the Minister of Internal Affairs Haiwang sent an order to the painter Leng Mei, and rewarded the painter Leng Mei in Cining Palace with money and grain." The money and grain he ate was worth 100 yuan per month. 11 taels. This was the highest among painters at that time (the salary of painters at the Painting Academy during the Qianlong Dynasty was: 11 taels for first-class painters, 9 taels for second-class painters, 7 taels for third-class painters, and less than 6 taels for unqualified painters. In the early Qianlong period, 1 tael of silver could buy one stone. rice).