The reasons for the differences between the two painting styles in Song Dynasty

The former ended the separatist situation, realized the partial unification of the country and developed the commodity economy. The latter country was in turmoil and ethnic contradictions were sharp, and the Southern Song Dynasty was partial to the south of the Yangtze River.

Two major painting styles in Song Dynasty: genre painting and literati landscape painting.

Song Dynasty is a period of all-round development of Chinese painting, with new schools such as figures, landscapes, flowers and birds constantly emerging, further expanding the theme, improving the ability of realism, and famous artists like stars. Among the artistic schools, there are two systems that stand out in the history of painting, namely, "Academy Painting" founded by Song Dynasty Painting Academy and "Literati Painting" initiated by Su Shi and Mi Fei, which have a far-reaching influence on later generations.

During the 300 years in Song Dynasty, the development of painting went through several stages and formed a relatively distinct stage. For more than a hundred years in the early Northern Song Dynasty, it mainly followed the painting style of the Five Dynasties, with figure painter Wu Daozi, flower-and-bird painting following the yellow system, and landscape painting adhering to the tradition of scenery and customs. In the mid-Northern Song Dynasty around Zongshen, the painting style showed significant changes. Figure painting creates "line drawing", which greatly enriches the expressive force of lines. Landscape painting shows the subtle changes of nature more realistically and delicately. Flower-and-bird painting developed ink painting, and literati painting flourished at this time. From the end of the Northern Song Dynasty to the beginning of the Southern Song Dynasty, Xuanhe Painting Academy formed a "courtyard painting", which was popular for a while and made outstanding achievements in the custom theme of figure painting. During the Southern Song Dynasty, great changes took place in landscape painting. The "Four Masters of Southern Song Dynasty" created a new "courtyard style" landscape painting style, and flower-and-bird painting developed the freehand brushwork method of ink and wash, forming many literati ink and wash flower painting schools. The freehand brushwork of ink and wash also appears in figure painting. Its obvious stages have also become an important basis for dating. The characteristics of each painting theme are also very distinct. Landscape painting in the Northern Song Dynasty emphasizes "learning from nature", pays attention to painting truth and style, depicts regional characteristics and climate change in detail, and at the same time carries forward the tradition of "learning from the heart", conceives the scenery and integrates the true feelings. The main schools and famous artists are: Li Cheng and Fan Kuan who inherited the northern landscape painting school; Hui Chong and Zhao Lingxiang, who are good at painting small landscapes of lakes and mountains; Mifei and his son's Yunshan ink play. Landscape painting in the Southern Song Dynasty attaches great importance to the creation of artistic conception and the expression of feelings, and its painting method is concise and pungent. Representative painters include Li Tang, Liu Songnian, Ma Yuan and Xia Gui, which created the situation of "courtyard painting" in the Southern Song Dynasty. There are also traditional green landscapes that have been inherited since the Tang Dynasty. Zhao Boju and Zhao Bosu are famous.

Flower-and-bird painting in the Northern Song Dynasty is mainly meticulous and meticulous, mainly based on sketching and realism. The main schools are Huang and his son's sketching, Xu Chongsi's boneless painting, Zhao Chang's sketching, Cui Bai's ink painting, and the "courtyard-style" flower-and-bird painting style formed by Xuanhe Painting Academy and continued to the Southern Song Dynasty Painting Academy. In the Southern Song Dynasty, literati ink flower-and-bird paintings appeared, emphasizing the expression of feelings and subjective feelings, and they liked to paint four gentlemen's themes: Mei Lan, Zhu Ju and Wen Tong. This trend was initiated by Su Shi and Wen Tong in the Northern Song Dynasty, and Zhao, who is famous for his ink plum, appeared in the Southern Song Dynasty, and was good at painting cymbidium and narcissus.

Figure painting was popular in the Northern Song Dynasty, including story painting and genre painting. The painting method inherits the tradition of Tang Dynasty, which is neat, realistic and innovative. Representative painters include Wu Zongyuan, who is good at drawing religious paintings, Li, who created "line drawing", and Zhang Zeduan, who is famous for genre painting. Most of the figure paintings in the Southern Song Dynasty are based on historical themes. Compared with today, they are more skillful in arranging plots, highlighting themes and portraying the heart. The painting method is greatly influenced by Li. On-line painting has created such forms as "grasshopper painting", "pouting painting" and "folding reed painting", and the "brush reduction" method of freehand brushwork in ink and wash has appeared. Representative painters are Yan Ziping, Ma, Kai Liang, etc.

The collection of calligraphy and painting in Song Dynasty was very active. The royal collection reached its peak in Song Huizong, which was 100 times that of the previous dynasty. At the same time, the protection, sorting, identification and recording of calligraphy and painting are systematically developed, and the mounting form is the famous "Xuanhe Mounting"; Original and copied ancient paintings are compiled into Xuanhe Ruilan Collection; Mi Fei, a famous painter and collector, is responsible for the identification and management of calligraphy and painting; Compiled into a complete descriptive book of Xuanhe Pu Shu and Xuanhe Huapu. Private collections of cultural relics, calligraphy and painting are also very popular, and almost all literati and wealthy businessmen have this hobby. Famous collectors include Mi Fei, Jia Sidao and others. At the same time, the cultural relics painting and calligraphy market is also very active, and the wind of painting and calligraphy fraud has followed, and special fake workshops have appeared. Therefore, the study of calligraphy and painting identification tends to be specialized, and famous calligraphers such as Mi Fei and Zhao Xiyu have appeared, and some important expositions or monographs have been preserved.

The original works left by the Song Dynasty were far away from Bitang and were rich in the Five Dynasties. All kinds of painting schools and major painters have representative works reflecting typical styles, and they can master the main basis for identifying the times and personal styles in detail. At the same time, there are abundant auxiliary evidence in the literature records such as painting history, painting and calligraphy description, painter's poems and contemporary collections, which can play an important role in corroboration. Therefore, the appraisal of paintings in Song Dynasty is much more reliable than that in Jin, Tang and Five Dynasties. However, it is also fully estimated that the identification of calligraphy and painting in Song Dynasty will encounter new difficulties: First, the royal family confused the original with the manuscript in compilation, quality determination, payment and seal, and regarded it as an original for a long time, which is difficult to distinguish today hundreds of years later; Secondly, there were many paintings with no style in Song Dynasty. Many painters' works are not signed, but only for imperial use. Some works are very simple even if they are signed. After losing their style, they become paintings without style. But these works are often added by later generations to pretend to be famous paintings. When identifying them, we should distinguish between authenticity and right and wrong. It is not only judged to be an original by a famous artist, but also belongs to a true Song painting, so it cannot be simply classified as a fake. Thirdly, there are many imitations of calligraphy and painting in Song Dynasty, some of which were faked by people at that time, and some were artificial imitations of Song paintings by later generations. The former is mainly for distinguishing right from wrong, while the latter is purely for arguing and cannot be regarded as a worthless imitation. In addition, there are differences between imperial paintings and imperial paintings, between ghostwriting and forgery, and between masterpieces and later generations, all of which need careful investigation.