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Zhang Zeduan and The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival

At the beginning of the Southern Song Dynasty, the painting style changed greatly, and genre painting had a wide range of subjects.

Master, Zhang Zeduan, Riverside Map, Growth Volume.

In the northern song dynasty, the grain city was the most prosperous;

People, front and back, chariots and horses, all concentrated.

There are restaurants, tea sheds, blacksmiths and carpenters;

Flower girl, fortune teller, under the bridge, everything goes well.

Buildings and floors are bustling with clear strokes;

Miscellaneous but not chaotic, step by step, the ancient city, into the eye.

From the end of the Northern Song Dynasty to the beginning of the Southern Song Dynasty, figure painting has undergone new changes, that is, genre painting and historical painting have made new development. The subject matter of genre painting is quite extensive, involving all aspects of citizens' lives, such as city streets, city walls, vendors, baby plays, ladies, chariots and horses, agricultural weaving, village studies, village animal husbandry, water transportation, navigation and so on.

Zhang Zeduan, who studied in Bianjing in his early years, later studied painting. Hui Zong works in Hanlin Painting Academy and is good at painting chariots and horses, streets, bridges and city walls. In addition to painting The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival, he also painted Bidding for the West Lake, both of which describe secular life.

The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival is a typical representative of genre painting in the Northern Song Dynasty and the result of the long-term development of figure painting in the Northern Song Dynasty. The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival takes Bianhe River as a typical environment, and depicts people's activities, buildings, tools and other secular human feelings at that time, which is of great historical value. On the basis of careful observation, the painter faithfully and meticulously described the bustling scene of the gates, streets and lanes of Bianliang City in the Northern Song Dynasty and the Bianhe River outside the gates. There are various commercial activities, handicraft activities, water transport activities on the river and various people's sightseeing activities on the screen. In addition to restaurants, pharmacies and other large shops, there are incense shops, bow shops, small tea shops or wine shops at the crossroads, as well as pawn shops with "Jie" signs hanging in front of them. Carpenters who make wheels, blacksmiths who sell knives and scissors, flower sellers, fortune tellers and various vendors can all be identified one by one. There are all kinds of people in the street, officials riding horses, surrounded by waiters passing through the crowd; Some women ride in small cars. In this noise, some people carry loads, some people drive cars, and the styles of cars are different. Some people are making boats on the river, some are wandering around, and some are leaning against the fence at the door. This lively scene, the painter arranged in an orderly way, mixed but not chaotic, fascinating, and the ancient capital reappeared in front of him. In terms of composition, there are always points, main points, fine points, thick points, tension and relaxation; Mainly in rural areas, rivers and cities, it is gradually spread out and has a lot of layers. The countryside is introductory and relatively simple. When I entered the river, I focused on describing the ship freight until the arch bridge, which formed the first climax. On the bridge, under the bridge and on the boat, people were in a hurry, noisy and very nervous, and then gradually turned away, ending the most important part of the center. From restaurants and bridges, streets lead directly to cities and various vehicles. Shops, all kinds of people, etc. Step by step, one place is tight, forming the second climax. From the city to the second street, the picture ends. There are many copies of The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival in the Southern Song Dynasty, with one or two gold volumes, which shows the great significance of southerners' nostalgia for the bustling feelings of their old capital.

The Northern Song Dynasty genre painting Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival. Silk book, light color, 24.8 cm long and 528.7 cm wide, is now in the Palace Museum in Beijing. This painting depicts the bustling scene and natural scenery on both sides of Bianliang and Bianhe, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, during the Qingming period. In the form of a long scroll, the work uses the composition method of scattered perspective to bring complicated scenery into a unified and changeable picture. There are more than 500 people in the painting, with different clothes and expressions, interspersed with various activities, paying attention to drama, dense composition, changing rhythm and rhythm, and ingenious brushwork. The whole picture is divided into three sections.

The first paragraph, Bianjing rural spring:

In the sparse forest mist, there are several huts, grass bridges, running water, old trees and boats. Two porters are driving five donkeys loaded with charcoal. They are going to town. A willow forest, with faint green branches, makes people feel that although it is chilly in spring, it is already spring back to the earth. In the sedan chair on the road, a woman sat in it. The top of the sedan chair is decorated with willows and flowers, followed by riders and bearers, returning from a walk in the suburbs of Beijing to sweep the grave. The description of the environment and characters points out the specific time and customs of Tomb-Sweeping Day, which opens the curtain for the whole painting.

In the middle section, the busy Bianhe Wharf:

Bianhe River is the hub of national grain transportation in the Northern Song Dynasty, and it is also the main road of commercial traffic. As can be seen from the picture, the population is dense and there are many grain ships. Some people are resting in the teahouse, some are telling fortune, and some are eating in the restaurant. There is also the "Wang's Paper Horse Shop", which is a grave sweeper selling sacrifices. Ships in the river come and go, end to end, either pulled by trackers or paddled by boatmen. Some are full of goods, going upstream, and some are nervously berthing to unload. Across the Bianhe River is a large wooden arch bridge with exquisite structure and beautiful shape. Such as flying rainbow, hence the name Hongqiao. There is a big ship waiting to cross the bridge. The boatman is supported by bamboo poles; Hook the bridge with a long pole; Lead the boat with hemp rope; Several people are busy lowering the mast so that the ship can pass. People in the neighboring ship are also pointing, as if shouting something. Both inside and outside the ship are busy crossing the bridge for this ship. People on the bridge are also sweating over the tense ferry scene. This is the well-known Hongqiao pier, which is full of traffic and bustling, and is really the intersection of land and water transportation.

In the second half, busy city streets:

Centered on the tall towers, there are rows of houses on both sides, including teahouses, restaurants, foot shops, meat shops, temples, public halls and so on. There are special commodities in the shop, such as silks and satins, jewels and spices, incense and paper horses. In addition, there are medical clinics, cart repair, fortune-telling visits, shaving and plastic surgery, and all walks of life have everything. Large-scale shops are also tied with "colorful buildings and happy doors" at the door, and banners are hung to attract business. Pedestrians in the market are jostling with each other, including businessmen doing business and people watching street scenes. There are monks walking around with baskets on their backs, tourists asking for directions from other places, street children who have heard of books, children of rich people who drink heavily in restaurants, disabled elderly people begging on the edge of cities, men, women and children, scholars, farmers, workers and businessmen, and so on. Means of transportation: sedan chair, camel, ox cart, rickshaw, flatbed, flatbed, all kinds of things. Vividly displayed in front of people.

More than 550 people of various colors were painted in the picture scroll with a total length of more than five meters, including fifty or sixty cattle, horses, mules, donkeys and other livestock, more than 20 vehicles and bridges, and more than 20 ships. Houses, bridges, towers, etc. They also have their own characteristics, reflecting the characteristics of architecture in the Song Dynasty. The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival by Zhang Zeduan is a realistic genre painting depicting a corner of Bianjing in the Northern Song Dynasty, which has high historical value and artistic level.