What is the cultural value of the Riverside Scene on Qingming Festival?

Genre painting appeared in Sui and Tang Dynasties, and the theme was mainly taken from rural life. For example, Tian Sangliang in Sui Dynasty was good at painting farmhouses, Yan Zai painted 12 screens, and cows and cows painted by Han Han were also part of the peasant custom. There are also many scenes of agricultural farming and urban life in the murals of Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang. After the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, urban life gradually entered the painter's field of vision. Although Gu's "Han Xizai's Night Banquet" is a figure painting, it obviously has a tendency of genre painting. With the development of commercial economy in Song Dynasty, the city became increasingly prosperous, the urban citizens' class grew constantly, and the citizens' life was rich and colorful. Under the background of this era, the most famous genre painting scroll-The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival appeared.

In Tomb-Sweeping Day, Zhang Zeduan was a court painter in Song Huizong. In his early years, he studied in the capital of song dynasty (now Kaifeng, Henan province) and then studied painting. Hui Zong works in Hanlin Painting Academy, specializing in painting palaces, especially ships, shops, bridges, streets and battlements. I like painting since I was a child, and I often draw people and houses I see on paper. After Jin captured the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhang Zeduan fled the capital and made a living by selling paintings in Lin 'an, the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty, and was later called into the palace. Based on his memory of the bustling scene of Beijing, he drew this beautiful "Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival".

The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival is an immortal masterpiece in China ancient urban genre painting, which has important historical and artistic value. It is of epoch-making significance in the history of art. It inherits and develops the long-lost techniques of China ancient genre painting, especially the historical genre painting tradition in the early Northern Song Dynasty.

Zhang Zeduan described the activities of citizens from all walks of life in the suburbs of Bianliang during the Qingming period with meticulous pen and ink. Rich in content and concise in brushwork. From the perspective of research, it provides vivid historical materials for future generations to study the politics, economy, culture and science and technology of the Song Dynasty. From the artistic point of view, Zhang Zeduan painted hundreds of people with a lot of pen and ink, showing their scenes of life, production and labor, and showing the highest achievement of figure painting in the Northern Song Dynasty; From a cultural point of view, compared with the figure painting in the Tang Dynasty, Zhang Zeduan took civilians as the target and reflected the life of citizens, which made the figure painting break away from the traditional pattern of simply expressing emperors, nobles and religious figures and become more secular and people-oriented, which was a great leap in artistic creation concept.

The author observes the characteristics of social life and everything, and has a keen and profound image memory and excellent organizational composition skills. As for the vivid expression of characters, the simple and smooth brushwork of trees and water lines, and the exquisite harmony of realm paintings, we can see the author's comprehensive artistic accomplishment in figures, landscapes, pavilions and other aspects. It combines the superb skills of various paintings in the Song Dynasty into one picture, which is complicated and changeable, and it is easy to be complicated.

The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival is about 0.248 meters high and 5.25 meters long, with all kinds of hard work and vivid characters. Shops, workshops, teahouses, restaurants, merchants, vendors, a scene of thriving business; Changhong lies on the waves, boats compete for currents, and cars compete for roads, reappearing the bustling urban scene of the Northern Song Dynasty; Cold food to worship ancestors, carrying baskets and carrying loads, walking in the green and inserting willows, all walks of life in the capital of song dynasty have a panoramic view of the life scenes during the Qingming period. The whole painting is large in scale, spectacular in scene, neat and dense in structure, and meticulous and quaint in brushwork.

From 1 1 to12nd century, the capital of song dynasty was the most populous city in the world. According to historical records, there are 540,000 people in this city. This city is very lively. "Generally, wine shops are in Washi, and the night market is open all night." "The night market reopened after midnight, like a lively place, knowing everything" (Meng Yuantou's Dream of Tokyo). Therefore, although the capital of Song Dynasty is not as grand and aristocratic as Chang 'an in Tang Dynasty, it has its own incomparable prosperity and street color. Geographically speaking. Bianliang is located at the intersection of Bianhe River, Caihe River, Zhangwu River and Jinshui River, with convenient transportation. It can not only transport grain and fabrics from the south to Beijing, but also transport handicraft products from the north to the south. Therefore, this is not only a place where merchants gather, but also a place where people gather.

This picture begins from the outskirts of the capital of song dynasty. All the way along the Bianhe River. The author painted more than 550 figures, more than 50 livestock, more than 30 buildings, more than 20 ships and more than 20 cars with the bird's eye view, scattered perspective and panoramic composition of ancient painters in China. Hongqiao and the urban area on the screen form two structural centers. In the second half of the 20th century, the state excavated some sites in the capital of song dynasty. According to experts' research, many places in the Riverside Map at Qingming Festival, such as Hongqiao and Drum Tower, have really existed.

From the picture, the time is probably around Tomb-Sweeping Day. On the outskirts of Bianliang, there are small bridges and flowing water, and farmers can be seen working in the fields. Among the willows, the branches are slightly green, suggesting the early spring season. There is a sedan chair on the road, in which a woman sits, and the top of the sedan chair is decorated. There are riders and bearers behind the sedan chair, as if they had just returned from sweeping graves in the suburbs. There are also two porters driving five donkeys into the city.

Behind the picture is Bianhe Wharf. There are many boats in the river, which are connected end to end. The tracker and the boatman have their own duties. Some ships are docked at the dock and unloading. People on the shore either rest in teahouses, see fortune tellers, or eat in restaurants. In addition, the painter also painted a "Wangzhima Store" selling grave-sweeping supplies. The picture continues to unfold, and a wooden arch bridge named Hongqiao on the border river crosses the river, which was the busiest dock area in the capital city at that time. There is a big ship passing under the bridge, which looks very dangerous. Some boatmen hooked the bridge with long poles, some supported it with bamboo poles, and some were busy putting down the mast. It seems that someone on the adjacent ship is giving them help and guidance, and people on the bridge are looking out.

Further inside is the bustling downtown area, where restaurants and teahouses are everywhere, and the houses on both sides of the road are lined up. Meat shops, temples, teahouses, foot shops, pharmacies and shops are intertwined, and the fabrics, silks and satins and jewels in the shops are clearly visible. In addition, there are repair shops, fortune-telling booths, shaving beauty shops and so on. Pedestrians in the street jostle shoulder to shoulder, businessmen, scribes, officials and vendors have their own characteristics, as well as monks, people asking for directions, soldiers and beggars. Almost all the people you can meet in the street are included in this painting.

Although there are many characters and changeable scenes, the composition of The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival seems to be very handy, with rich content, orderly arrangement, clear rhythm and appropriate movements. The most amazing thing is that there are so many people, cars, horses, livestock and buildings. There is almost no repetition. Everyone's manners, clothes and actions are in line with the occupation and class of the characters. The items, nails and even rope buckles on the ship are clearly drawn and breathtaking. The painter carefully observed the important heavy-duty vehicles at that time, and all kinds of mule cars were painted into the picture, which became important historical materials for future generations to study the traffic in the Song Dynasty.

In the Song Dynasty, Mr. Meng Yuanshen once recalled the appearance of Tokyo in "Tokyo in a Dream": "When you look up, you will see a brothel painting pavilion, embroidered bead curtains, carved cars competing for the sky street, and BMW competing for the imperial road. Splendid, rocky fragrance. The new voice smiled at Liuyuan, and tuned the tune in the teahouse and restaurant according to the tube. Eight famine together, Xian Tong. Collecting treasures from all over the world is easy to return to the city; The odor in Huihuan area is recorded in the kitchen. The flowers are full, so why limit the spring outing; The flute and drum were loud and empty, and there were several night banquets. Clever is amazing, and luxury is long-lasting. " The old days have long passed, and we can't imagine the bustling scene of the capital of song dynasty at that time. By comparing the Qingming Riverside Map, we really feel a street flavor. If we are close at hand, we can walk into this noisy street.

Zhang Zeduan's The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival shows the social customs and life style at that time, focusing on the traffic situation of Bianhe River as the lifeline of traffic at that time and the hard life of laborers. This painting is a treasure of ancient paintings in China. This painting does not have the author's signature, and only after it is finished will the author and his life be clear. However, Zhang Zeduan's painting name is not included in Xuanhe Painting Spectrum, so there are some doubts. For example, Lu Wan's postscript said that "Xuanhe's paintings and calligraphy works are dedicated to Cai Jing", and the traitor Cai Jing was jealous of talents and rejected dissidents, and it was also possible to do such despicable things. Therefore, Zhang Zeduan is not listed in Xuanhe Huapu, just as Su Shi and Huang Tingjian are not listed in Pu Shu. However, the brilliance of art can't be hidden after all. The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival and its author Zhang Zeduan have become more and more brilliant with the passage of time.