Landscape after Wang Wei’s “Wangchuan Picture”

The subject of this handscroll is linked to Wang Wei (701–761), a legendary scholar-artist who was regarded as the founder of the Southern School of the landscape painting tradition. It is recorded that Wang once depicted a mural scene of the Wangchuan mountain in Shaanxi, where he spent ten years living a reclusive life. Possibly based on his viewing of later copies of the work, Song Xu rendered this long, horizontal painting that included about twenty sightseeing places of Wangchuan—craggy mountains, lush groves, thatched villas, and running water. His refined brushwork lends a pulsating, dynamic energy to the furrowed, continuous hills.

Song’s inscription at the end of this handscroll records the reason for this creation. His friend was enchanted by a fourteenth-century copy of Wang’s Views of Wangchuan, and thus playfully challenged him to paint a work reminiscent of the original Wang painting. As agreed, when enjoying a summer retreat in the friend’s studio in 1574, Song completed this work. Song humbly stated that he did not even dream of “reaching the style of master Wang Wei”; he just wanted to “indulge the amusement” of his friend.