Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 986 0981 [Mental patients have broad ideas]

More than ten candles flickered in the room, and a large piece of Jingxian paper was spread out by a servant.

Jingxian paper is Xuan paper, the Xuan from Xuanzhou.

Zhao Kai was still drinking slowly, occasionally putting food into his mouth. He was gradually becoming drunk, and his eyes became erratic, but he held the chopsticks very steadily, and could accurately pick up the tiny pieces of meat on the plate.

"Dong dong dong..."

There was a knock on the door.

Zhao Kai shouted sternly, "Get lost!"

The brothel servant who was helping to mix the ink was so frightened by the sound that his hands began to tremble.

Outside the door, Xie Yunyun, a famous prostitute in Kaifeng, was standing side by side with a young man.

The man was called Zhang Fang, the nephew of the late cabinet minister Zhang Shuye. His father was Zhang Shuchun, the younger brother of Zhang Shuye, who was shot and killed by an arrow during the resistance against the Jin army.

In this time and space, Zhang Shuchun was naturally not shot by an arrow during the resistance against the Jin army, and died of illness while serving as the Education Commissioner of Zhejiang.

He had an uncle who was a cabinet minister and a father who was an education commissioner. Although these two elders had passed away due to illness, Zhang Fang was still extremely noble.

At least in Kaifeng Prefecture, most people have to give face to Zhang Wulang!
When he heard that Zhao Kai was painting, he immediately brought the famous prostitute over. However, he was scolded to get out before he even entered the room.

Zhang Fang suddenly became furious and rolled up his sleeves to kick the door open.

The famous prostitute Xie Yunyun quickly pulled him back and whispered, "Wulang is the descendant of a famous official, don't bother with a madman. Even if you beat him up, it will only make people laugh if the news gets out. If he accidentally hurts Wulang, I'm afraid the news will spread all over Kaifeng Prefecture within a few months."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Fang raised his right foot and stepped back onto the ground.

Yes, why bother with a madman? You will make a fool of yourself whether you win or lose.

This Zhao Kai is like a pile of dog shit on the street. If you touch him, you will stink all over. You must never provoke him.

It's no use using your connections to put Zhao Kai in jail.

Zhao Kai had been imprisoned several times for his drunken nonsense. Because of his special status, the jailer did not dare to abuse him too much, and only made a few sarcastic remarks, and still had to obediently send him prison food.

Xie Yunyun added: "This man's fame is growing. Why don't you wait patiently? Wait until he finishes the painting and then offer a large sum of money to buy it. When this spreads, Wulang will surely gain a reputation for being modest. The better his painting is, the more famous Wulang will be."

Zhang Fang nodded and smiled: "Xie Niang is right. I will wait outside the door and bring the wine and food here."

I don't know how long it took, but Zhao Kai finished the whole jar of rice wine, and in the middle of the drink he was drunk and urinated in the corner of the house.

The servant didn't dare to persuade him and could only stand there waiting without handing over the chamber pot.

"Bang!"

A stool fell to the ground. It was unclear whether Zhao Kai knocked it over or kicked it over on purpose.

There were several paintbrushes of different sizes, and Zhao Kai picked up one at random.

The servant said, "The ink is a little dry, little one..."

Before he could finish his words, Zhao Kai pushed him away, then bit the paintbrush with his mouth and freed his hands to mix the ink himself.

The servant was pushed and almost fell down. He quietly stepped aside and observed every move attentively - he was secretly learning Zhao Kai's painting skills!

After mixing the ink for painting, Zhao Kai stood still, distracted for unknown reasons.

After a long time, Zhao Kai turned around and looked around.

The servant asked hurriedly, "What are you looking for, sir?"

Zhao Kai turned a deaf ear to the boy, as if he were nothing but air. He looked around, then walked around the room drunkenly, and finally found a rag from somewhere.

The rag was dipped in ink and pressed on the paper, smearing it back and forth, and soon several large ink stains were left behind.

Splash-ink painting has existed since the Tang Dynasty.

But it has never been mainstream, and even the techniques of the founder of ink-splashing have been lost.

From the Five Dynasties to the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the realist school gradually unified the painting world and reached its peak during the reign of Emperor Huizong. The composition must be rigorous, meticulous, and the pursuit of both resemblance and verve is required.

If the painting is out of line, it means it is against the rules and it means you have no master to follow!
There are also freehand styles, but they are not considered elegant.

For example, Wen Tong, Su Shi, Mi Fu and others like to paint some small freehand paintings. This kind of painting is called "ink play", also known as "literati ink play", which is a pastime outside of work and after dinner.

The major change in the painting style of the Song Dynasty occurred after the people moved south and the country was in ruins.

But this time and space lacks such an opportunity.

The prosperity of the Ming Dynasty in recent years has led to the abnormal development of realism. Grandeur, magnificence, beauty, color, refinement, rules, and inheritance are the ultimate pursuits of painters, and the rest are all heretical and trivial techniques.

The imperial painters of the Hanlin Academy of Painting were obsessed with wealth and prosperity all day long.

The servant silently took half a step forward and saw that the ink blotch in the upper right corner of the drawing paper was filled in by Zhao Kai, and soon it took on the shape of a mountain.

The specific technique is called "da axe-cut texture" and was invented by Li Tang, the imperial painter during the reign of Emperor Huizong.

In the Ming Dynasty, Li Tang served as the president of the Hanlin Academy of Painting and studied bronze and stone with Li Qingzhao. He was not abducted by the Jin Kingdom, nor did he break through in poverty, but died of illness in leisure and wealth.

Li Tang invented the "big axe-chopping texture", but he still belonged to the realism school and was the leader of the realism school.

When Zhao Kai was a prince, he learned painting from Li Tang. His use of the "big axe splitting texture" was completely different from that of his teacher Li Tang. He was more unrestrained and unrestrained, completely disregarding rules and not paying attention to details. All of these ran counter to the current painting world.

In addition to the specific painting method, Zhao Kai also left a large area of ​​blank space in the upper left part of the drawing paper, and only drew a tiny falling black sun as embellishment in the huge blank space.

When the rooster crowed, Zhao Kai wrote down the words "Gen Yue" and signed his name.

He took the seal from his waist, threw it on the drawing table and said, "Stamp it."

After saying that, he didn't care about anything else, swept the cups and bowls on the table with his arm, and lay down on the table and fell asleep.

The cups and bowls fell to the ground and shattered.

The door was suddenly pushed open, and Zhang Fang asked, "Are you done with the painting?"

The servant was putting down his seal and replied, "It's finished."

Zhang Fang said, "Take another twenty candles and light them. More than half of these candles have burned out."

The room became bright again, accompanied by Zhao Kai's not-so-loud snoring.

Zhang Fang and Xie Yunyun stood around the large freehand painting and examined it carefully, their eyes filled with shock.

The composition center of the whole painting should be Fan Tower, but the focus is Gen Yue in the upper right corner.

Genyue is surprisingly tall and steep. An artificial hill in Kaifeng City has the feeling of the majestic Huashan Mountain. Its appearance and proportions are not like Genyue, but it can be recognized at a glance.

The palaces and side streets in Kaifeng city have become the backdrop to highlight Genyue.

There were no clear lines in the buildings, just a mass of black in the east and a mass of black in the west. You could vaguely tell where the palace was, where the Fan Tower was, where the bell tower was, where the bridge was…

Desolate, cold, and even a bit ghostly!

This is not the prosperous Kaifeng city, but more like another time and space, a den of ghosts on earth after the Jingkang Incident.

Especially the black setting sun between the large areas of white space, which seemed to emit endless black light and enveloped the entire Kaifeng.

Zhang Fang muttered, "Why do I feel cold all over my body? Is this a painting of Kaifeng City?"

Xie Yunyun pointed at the sleeping Zhao Kai and said, "Maybe this is Kaifeng in his eyes."

Zhang Fang said: "This painting must be purchased, but it cannot be kept privately, nor can it be circulated among the people. It should be presented to the government to decide whether to destroy it."

After sitting there until the ink was completely dry, Zhang Fang took out two hundred strings of banknotes and gave them to Xie Yunyun, saying, "This is the money for the painting. I'll give it to him when he sobers up. I'll take the painting with me and send it to Luoyang to see the emperor."

Xie Yunyun bowed and said, "Wu Lang, take care."

……

A few days later.

When Zhu Ming saw the painting “Genyue”, he sighed: “This person has lost all hope.”

Zhang Fang said, "Your Majesty, Zhao Kai often said some disrespectful and crazy things after getting drunk, and was arrested and imprisoned in Kaifeng several times. Now he has painted the prosperous and peaceful Kaifeng in such a ghostly way. He must be holding a grudge and cursing the Ming Dynasty!"

Zhu Ming said, "Don't make a fuss. In our glorious Ming Dynasty, can't we tolerate a person with a lost soul? As long as he doesn't commit crimes, there is no need to punish him. How much did you spend on the painting?"

"Two hundred strings of cash." Zhang Fang replied.

Zhu Ming said, "Go and collect the three hundred strings of cash. I will consider this painting as my purchase and send it to the Hanlin Academy of Painting to open the eyes of the painters."

Zhang Fang did not come to file a complaint or to make money. He just wanted to meet the emperor and make him remember him.

Since the emperor said it didn't matter, Zhang Fang stopped saying bad things and happily took the money and left the palace.

The next day, Hanlin Academy of Painting.

A large group of imperial painters surrounded "Gen Yue" and marveled at it.

They didn't care about anything spooky or mysterious, they only wanted to study the techniques used by Zhao Kai.

Ma Ben (Ma Yuan's great-grandfather) pointed to the buildings in Kaifeng and said: "This person's painting style is becoming more and more unorthodox, but the combination of splashed ink and dry brush is extremely wonderful. To use the words of the retired emperor, it is a sense of space and layering. Anyway, I can't do it. I'm afraid I need to practice for another ten years."

Zhang Zeduan shook his head repeatedly: "I will never be able to learn it in my lifetime. They are two completely different paths."

Zhang Zeduan belongs to the orthodox realist school and is good at meticulous painting, while also integrating some freehand brushwork techniques.

Zhao Kai's style of freehand brushwork matured and became popular in the Ming Dynasty. There were also similar styles in the Tang, Song and Five Dynasties, but no schools were formed and no great painters emerged.

In fact, Zhao Kai's painting was not mature yet and was still in the exploratory stage, but it was enough to bring a huge impact to the Hanlin painters.

At a time when realism is the absolute mainstream, someone suddenly came up with a freehand painting, and painted the city of Kaifeng into a ghost town. It would take a mental patient to come up with this!

Realism pays attention to rules and inheritance. If this painting was created by a normal person, it would probably be suppressed by their collective.

But who wants to bother with a mentally ill person?
They just found it interesting and studied "Gen Yue" repeatedly. Gradually, some people took out paper and pen and started to imitate it.

Even Zhang Zeduan was studying and imitating it, trying to figure out how Zhao Kai painted it.

The freehand painting school would probably have emerged several hundred years earlier.

The mentally ill Zhao Kai was still sleeping on the streets of Kaifeng at this moment. He would paint another one when his money ran out.

(End of this chapter)