1952, an ancient tomb of Han Dynasty was excavated in Dongerli, Wang Jun County, Hebei Province. The four walls of the front room and the two walls of the tomb tunnel are covered with murals. The painting is divided into two layers, the upper layer is the figure, and the lower layer is the animal, each with its own title. Draw clouds, birds and animals on the aisle ticket. The front room symbolizes the front room of the tomb owner, and the two sides of the south wall door are painted with the "temple gate pawn" and "gate pavilion manager" responsible for guarding. The paintings painted by the tomb owner on the east, west and north walls show all the officials, rafters and guards in the cliff temple before his death, such as the "hammer rafters" responsible for drumming, the "benevolence rafters" in charge of prisons, and the "thief Cao" who maintains public order. The portrayal of characters is different in posture and clothing because of their different status and responsibilities, which highlights the personality characteristics of characters. The petty officials under the door are brave and unstoppable; It is a gentle and leisurely "master book", which shows the typical image of civil servants in Han Dynasty. The expression method of painting outlines the morphological characteristics of characters with simple ink lines. Clothing lines are simple but conform to the law of motion, and the pen is smooth and powerful. It can be seen that after years of accumulation and long-term artistic practice, China's ancient paintings of Han Dynasty have made some progress in the change and application of painting language. Although the online application and shape description of Han paintings are still in the rough and simple stage of China's paintings, the whole mural has embodied the artistic skills of artists in the Han Dynasty to describe and understand life, and it is a brilliant page in China's ancient works of art.
The painting art in the Qin and Han Dynasties generally includes palace and temple murals, tomb murals and silk paintings. Paintings in the Qin dynasty rarely circulate in kind. Now, the only relics that can be used to understand the painting features of the Qin Dynasty are the die-printed portrait bricks unearthed in Lintong and Fengxiang, Shaanxi Province over the years, the mural fragments, carved portrait bricks and architectural tiles unearthed in Qin Gong site in Xianyang, and the decorative patterns on a few handicrafts found in other areas. The Han Dynasty, which lasted for more than four centuries, was an important period when the unique national spirit and formal style of China traditional art were basically established and further developed and consolidated. The rulers of the Han Dynasty attached great importance to the art of painting. Mao Yanshou, Fan Yu, Chen Chang and Bai Liu are all famous imperial painters in later generations.
From 1972 to 1974, two Han tombs in Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan Province, and several painted silk books in No.9 Han tomb in Quanqueshan, Linyi, Shandong Province were unearthed one after another, which enriched the physical materials of painting in the Han Dynasty, made up the blank of painting in the early Han Dynasty, and made people have a clear understanding of the actual face of painting in the Western Han Dynasty. Among them, the color painting of Mawangdui Tomb No.1 is the most mature, and it is the earliest treasure of meticulous and heavy color painting in China. The lines are even and powerful, soaring and leaping, which is consistent with the four wonders of Gao Gu You summarized by later generations. The color is mainly mineral pigments, which are heavy, steady, bright and harmonious; The composition is dense, and the regular and balanced pattern structure is combined with realistic images. The main body is prominent, coherent from top to bottom, and amazing in richness. In Mawangdui Tomb No.3, there are three noteworthy silk paintings. One is the Qigong diagram hidden in the lacquer cave, in which the figures are arranged separately, showing their fitness posture and different shapes and costumes. The other two paintings are hung on the east and west walls of the tomb, and their contents are considered to show the activities of the ruler's "agricultural shrine". Hundreds of chariots and horses are ceremonial ceremonies, which can be described as magnificent; In the composition, it overcomes the technique of arranging characters up and down in the prelude period, and depicts the whole picture of the chariots and horses from the perspective of overlooking. This is the earliest large-scale painting to record real life. Unfortunately, the peeling damage is serious, so we can only have a rough look.
Due to the change of social customs and habits, decorative paintings on bronzes and lacquerware, which were dominant in painting during the Warring States period, gave way to palace murals, above-ground building murals, tomb murals and related relief stones and bricks. As the funeral silk painting continues to be popular, the painting on lacquerware has been further developed and improved. In the foreign exchange, the new factors of foreign art are constantly absorbed. Therefore, the painting of Qin and Han Dynasties has been greatly enriched, improved and expanded compared with the painting of the Warring States, showing a vibrant and prosperous scene, which laid a solid foundation for the future development of painting art and became the first development climax in the history of China painting.
The use of painting to decorate buildings has long been recorded in the literature, and there are many descriptions of murals in the Warring States period. The extensive application of painting in palaces and tombs was undoubtedly in the Qin and Han Dynasties. In the process of unifying China, "every time a vassal of Qin Dynasty was broken, he wrote (imitated) his palace and made it on the northern Sakamoto of Xianyang. Wei in the south, Jingwei and Wei in the east, and the hall returns to the road and belongs to each other. (Historical Records of the First Qin Emperor) These large-scale buildings built to publicize the great cause of Qin Shihuang's reunification and its supreme authority are painted with many murals. 1979 The portraits of horses and chariots found on the site of Xianyang Palace provide physical evidence about murals in the Qin Dynasty. During the Han Dynasty, palaces, palaces, temples, schools and houses of powerful landlords were almost all decorated with paintings. " The rich often have civil works, and the poor often wear clothes of cattle and horses, which is not only a true portrayal of social life in the Han Dynasty, but also a reflection of the social customs of painted palaces at that time. There are also many palace murals in the Han Dynasty, which are only recorded. The front hall of Weiyang Palace was very luxurious when Emperor Wen was in office, with "carved paintings" (see Ying Shao's Custom Justice). When Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty worked as a stage room in Ganquan Palace, he painted heaven, earth, Taiyi and ghosts and gods. Xuan Di also painted portraits of heroes on the walls of Qilin Pavilion.
When Emperor Hanming made his crusade to the East, he painted the image of 28 generals of ZTE on the four walls of Yuntai in Nangong. Emperor Ling also painted portraits of Confucius and seventy-two disciples of Hongdumen School. At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, murals were painted not only in palaces, but also in aristocratic palaces. There are pictures in the Lingguang Hall of Wang Liuyu of the Principality of Lu, including images of heaven and earth, mountain gods, sea gods, ancient emperors, loyal ministers, dutiful sons, martyrs and virgins. Liu Qu, king of Guang Chuan, also painted a portrait of Jing Ke's short coat and long sword on the door of the temple, and Liu Haiyang, king of Guang Chuan, painted a mural of "Nude Handover between Men and Women" in his studio. The residences of ordinary bureaucrats are also painted with murals of mountain gods, sea gods and rare birds and animals. In the Han dynasty, prefectures and counties also painted the deeds of local officials with murals, "remembering their advance and retreat" as a warning, and also used murals to commend officials and carry out political propaganda. When suppressing the rebels, the rulers even used murals as a means. According to "The History of the Later Han Dynasty and Liu Chuan", during the period of offering a reward for the capture of Liu□, Wang Mang ordered that "Chang 'an Central Government Hall and Tianxia Township Pavilion should be painted with the words" Bo Sheng "(Liu□, the word" Bo Sheng ") like Shu, and immediately shot. "Of course, justice with murals is also seen in historical records. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Du Yan died in a partisan struggle, and his villagers painted him in Quyuan Temple to show their admiration.
Mural relics in Qin and Han Dynasties
(Biography of Yan Dou in the Later Han Dynasty).
Painting in the Han Dynasty was not only used in palaces, but also in tombs and stone pavilions. In Han dynasty, the custom of death is like life, thick burial is the virtue, thin burial is the light, and in the name of filial piety, you can gain both fame and fortune. This is to make the scale and quantity of painting activities (including drawing silk paintings that are thought to lead the soul of the deceased to heaven) to an unprecedented height. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhao Qi painted murals for his grave even when he was alive. "Ji Zha, Zichan, Yan Ying and Shuxiang were in the guest position, and they all painted themselves and praised them" (Biography of Zhao Qichuan in the Later Han Dynasty). This can be confirmed by many murals, silk paintings and a large number of existing paintings such as stone reliefs and brick reliefs that have been unearthed in the Han Dynasty. In addition to murals, you can also see exquisite paintings on horses, chariots, clothes and utensils of aristocratic bureaucrats on the screen of the palace. There were also some movable paintings in the Han Dynasty. These paintings made on wooden boards or silk were given away or even bought and sold, which was the origin of the later popular scroll paintings. According to records, in his later years, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty asked Huangmen painter to paint the story of Fuxi becoming a king for Huo Guang. Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han Dynasty met his liege at a banquet, and was attracted by the photo of a martyr on the screen beside him, "looking at it more". Queen Liang "often put the photos of martyrs on the left and right sides as a warning". The screen fu written by the Western Han Dynasty in Miscellanies of Xijing describes the decoration of the screen as follows: "Brocade, reflecting yellow, crafty painting, high-spirited." It can be seen that even the theme of "cunning" contains high aesthetic value through artistic processing in addition to political education.
With the expansion of painting activities and the large demand for painting works, more and more painters took painting as their special occupation in Qin and Han Dynasties. The specialized painters sent to court by Luo Zhi are called "Yellow Door Painters" or "Square Painters". Famous ones are Mao Yanshou, Chen Chang, Bai Liu, Gong Kuan, Wang Yang and Fan Li in the Western Han Dynasty, Liu Dan and Yang Lu in the Eastern Han Dynasty. According to Xijing Miscellanies, Mao Yanshou "writes people, so ugly, old and young, it must be true"; Wang Yang and Fan Yu are both "good at cloth color". Compared with slave craftsmen engaged in painting in Shang and Zhou Dynasties, these painters who worked in the court were not only more professional, but also more likely to develop their own specialties, which undoubtedly created favorable conditions for the broad development of painting. According to literature, some upper-class literati (such as Zhang Heng, Cai Yong, Liu Bao, etc. ) also began to get their hands on painting, which means that painting is paid more and more attention and the social status of painters is improved.