The literary giants of the late Ming Dynasty began by copying books

Chapter 184 Modeled Figure Painting

Wang Wenlong handed over the factory establishment instructions he had written before and introduced his ideas:

"Nowadays, the trend of doting on girls in Fujian and other places has been repeatedly suppressed, and the feudal lords are also very distressed. If a women's textile factory can start the trend and attract others to imitate it, the women in Fujian will have an extra livelihood in the future, even if it is You can live alone without a man, so you are a poor family and don’t feel that raising a daughter is a loss of money.”

"This is a good idea," Mrs. Hu first nodded in agreement, and then asked Wang Wenlong: "Is this what Xu Fantai meant?"

Wang Wenlong said: "Master Fantai also supports it."

Wang Wenlong's words could not be hidden from Mrs. Hu. After hearing that this matter had little to do with Xu Xueju, Mrs. Hu became a little hesitant.

Although she has a reputation as a fierce woman, she is not old-fashioned but also quite ambitious. Many of her things are done to strengthen the Ou family. If there is no support from Xu Xueju behind this factory, who knows whether Wang Wenlong can accomplish this.

Mrs. Hu said euphemistically: "The Ou family are just landlords in Putian. They are lucky to be able to come into the eyes of Mr. Wang, but they are afraid that my family has insufficient financial resources." Wang Wenlong only opened his mouth, but asked her, the Ou family, to pay for real money. Of course Hu Don't want to do it.

Wang Wenlong heard this and said quickly: "Madam, you can rest assured in terms of funds. Even if the Ou family doesn't pay for the initial investment, it will be all my responsibility. I just want to use my wife's reputation to block those little ones who think I have other ideas." Mouth of Man.”

"I want to ask Madam to send someone to supervise the factory to ensure that there is nothing unspeakable in the factory. As long as Madam Hu is willing to cooperate, I can give Madam a share."

Only then did Mrs. Hu know why Wang Wenlong came, and she was even more surprised by Wang Wenlong's abundant funds.

She thought for a moment before nodding and said: "In this case, I can join, and I can even help with capital and production, but I am voluntary to help without any shares. As for the Ou family's shares, we have friends in Fuzhou who cooperate, so I will Borrow funds and ask him to come forward to buy shares, and we can just write a contract in private."

"This is natural." Wang Wenlong nodded quickly, sighing in his heart that doing business with smart people is convenient.

If Mr. Hu wants to invest in Oujia, others will inevitably gossip about him and suspect that Mr. Hu will condone and cover up the bad things in the factory in order to protect his own business.

But Hu only participated voluntarily and purely used his reputation as a guarantee, and outsiders would definitely be willing to believe it.

Things that make money belong to making money, and things that matter with face belong to face. This has been true since ancient times.

Mrs. Hu was also very satisfied with the deal, nodded and said with a smile: "I wonder how many shares Mr. Wang wants my Ou family to pay?"

Wang Wenlong said with a smile: "I'm not busy with this matter. I went back and did the calculations carefully. There is not much shortage of initial funds."

Mrs. Hu was so smart that Wang Wenlong was afraid of being tricked by her.

Now Hu took the initiative to give in. If the two talked at this time, Wang Wenlong would definitely be at a disadvantage. Hu's lion opened his mouth and offered more money to get more shares, but Wang Wenlong had nothing to say.

He wouldn't be so stupid. He would definitely let the Hu family out for a while, and it would not be too late to negotiate terms after his own initial investment could overwhelm the Hu family's efforts.

……

After negotiating the cooperation intention with Mr. Hu, Wang Wenlong realized that the machinery of the textile factory had not yet been built. Wang Wenlong finally came to Putian and was not in a hurry to go back, so he returned to Xinghua Fucheng to stay at Zeng Jing's house.

When I returned to Zeng Jing's house, I learned that Ge Yilong and Zhao Chunqing had been invited by Eunuch Wu to their house, and Zeng Jing was the only one left at home.

Zeng Jing spread out his manuscript paper early in the morning and was busy. When Wang Wenlong finished his meal, he had not finished yet. He just raised his head and apologized: "Jianyang, wait a moment, let me finish this painting first, so as not to dry up the pen and ink."

Wang Wenlong smiled and said: "Bochen does his own thing, don't worry about me." Although he was a famous painter at this time, his social status was completely incomparable with Dong Qichang. Painting these days was also divided into grades. Dong Qichang painted literati paintings, which represented What is more important is the aesthetic taste of the scholar-official class, which emphasizes pen and ink and charm, but does not pursue resemblance in form.

Zeng Jing obviously studied the meticulous school of painting and specialized in making portraits for a living, more like a painter.

Wang Wenlong got up without anything to do and watched Zeng Jing draw. He spread out the manuscript paper and drew a man sitting on the Taishi chair. He painted the man layer by layer with different shades of pen and ink. Wearing a blue Confucian shirt, Zeng Jing’s painting skills are very strong, and the figures he draws are very three-dimensional.

But Wang Wenlong saw that he had been painting for a long time but only painted the body of the character, leaving the head unpainted.

Wang Wenlong couldn't help but curiously asked: "Whose painting is this? Why don't you show the face?"

Zeng Jing almost finished the painting. He raised his head and said with a smile, "I'm taking advantage of the fact that I have nothing to do now to prepare the background for the future."

He pointed at the figure's head and said: "If a Confucian scholar wants to draw a portrait, I will just fill in the head and face according to his appearance."

Wang Wenlong instantly understood that the painting co-authored by Zeng Jing was partially customized. He further asked: "What if this person has an official status?"

Zeng Jing had already finished painting and put down his pen and ink, just in time to show it to Wang Wenlong. He went directly to the flower pot next to him and took out a few scrolls. After opening it, Wang Wenlong understood.

I saw only a picture of men and women, wearing various colors of clothes, from young to old, from officials to landlords, all with empty faces.

After Zeng Jing further introduced Wang Wenlong, he understood: At this time, the fees charged by painters for painting portraits were already very professional. How much does it cost to draw an open face? Do you want to add scenery next to it? If you add a bird, you will be charged two taels of silver more. If you add a stone or a plant, you will be charged two cents more. Flowers and plants cost one tael. If the money is enough, it is not a problem to just paint him a house full of gold and jade.

Sometimes a painter like Zeng Jing paints a portrait of a deceased person, which requires an extra sum of money. Zeng Jing's professional level is also very high, and he will automatically help customers correct the bad aspects of the character, such as the majestic eyebrows. Some, wipe the pockmarks off your face, etc.

"Sure enough, every line is like a mountain," Wang Wenlong said with a smile, "I don't think there are so many ways to paint portraits."

Zeng Jing laughed and said: "It's more than that. It's just about painting people's portraits. As for painting story prints and temple niches, there are other rules, just like the murals in temples. Which benefactor donates more money, which one As a senior official in Tan Yue, he is very particular about who should be drawn and what role he should play."

He shook his head and laughed at himself: "I have been a painter for decades, and I have only learned this skill."

Wang Wenlong hurriedly flattered: "Everyone says that Brother Pochen is the best in figure painting in the world. When I saw him today, it turned out that every figure was painted vividly."

Zeng Jing's figure painting techniques are obviously influenced by Western paintings, focusing on "ink bones", which is to put it bluntly, the relationship between light and shadow.

The level of figure painting in the Ming Dynasty was still very simple. Have you ever seen the emperor who looks the same as him in "Three Talents Picture Society"? That was the basic level of painters in the Ming Dynasty. Even if he is as famous as Tang Bohu, it is impossible to tell who is who among the beauties in the painting.

Zeng Jing's figure paintings are obviously divided into figures, and each person's appearance is extremely lifelike. His works not only had a profound influence in the Ming Dynasty, but also later spread to Japan and other countries. Most of the Chinese painting figures after the Qing Dynasty were influenced by it.

Wang Wenlong took a look at Zeng Jing's newly painted work in Putian these days. Although it was only a rough draft, he could already tell that it looked like an old woman. He was just waiting for layers of dyeing to complete the work.

Zeng Jing introduced: "This is Gaotang, the prefect of Xinghua Prefecture."

Wang Wenlong nodded, looked at it for a while, then pointed at the figure in the painting and asked curiously: "This figure's body is slightly tilted, but why is his face so upright?"

In Wang Wenlong's opinion, Zeng Jing's face and body are well drawn, but the character's body and head are obviously out of coordination and his posture is weird.

(End of this chapter)