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

Chapter 187: Like a person looking into a mirror, like a lamp taking a shadow

Ma Mengji said with a smile: "Mr. is well-known for his high art. It's really extraordinary when I see him today. He also spent a lot of time on painting today. Why don't you rest in our yamen first and look at Bochen's painting tomorrow?"

He felt that as long as they watched it a day later, it wouldn't be a comparison, but a mutual appreciation, and both sides would be able to save face.

The reason why Wu Bin painted so seriously today was just for this moment. Where did he agree? Hearing this, he smiled and said: "It's just a temporary comparison. I just won't say anything more."

"Sir, can you really not tell me?" Ma Mengji asked hesitantly.

Wu Bin nodded.

Zeng Jing and Wu Bin were both famous artists from Putian. Ma Mengji was also curious about what the two people's paintings would look like when compared together, so he nodded.

Ma Mengji's mother was coming to see the paintings at this time. When she heard that they also wanted to see the paintings Zeng Jing had made for her, she stood aside curiously, and even the servants, wives and servants of Ma Menji's family were watching.

Ma Mengji took the scroll, Wu Bin untied the rope and slowly opened the painting.

The scroll was opened from top to bottom. Everyone nodded quietly when they saw the delicate hair of the character painted by Zeng Jing. The hair was so delicate that it seemed to come out of the paper.

Wu Bin didn't feel nervous. Zeng Jing's painting style was more realistic than his, so it didn't matter if it looked more detailed.

The characters in Wu Bin's paintings may not look exactly like Ma Mengji's mother in terms of appearance, but their expressions are almost exactly the same.

The more important thing is to see whether the character's face and expression can be both physical and spiritual.

The scroll continued to move downward, and when Ma Mengji's mother's kind smiling face appeared on the drawing paper, the expressions of everyone present gradually changed from smiles to surprise.

"This is..." Wu Bin's smile suddenly froze on his face, and then slowly turned into dumbfounded.

When Zeng Jing painted this painting, he had just completed "Portrait of Wang Jianyang" and was immersed in the joy of acquiring new technology. Therefore, instead of saving effort when painting, he was fully immersed in it and wanted to challenge his own limits.

This painting "Fengma Taishou's High Hall" not only has the exquisiteness of his original brushwork, but also combines his understanding of the Western painting techniques taught by Wang Wenlong, and the three-dimensional effect of the face dyed in layers. Zeng Jing's original talent for painting portraits resulted in a portrait painting with accurate proportions, dynamic realism, and reasonable structure. The characteristics of the characters, spatial relationships, and the demeanor of the old lady were all perfectly captured.

Originally, Zeng Jing's realistic portraits were the only technique that caused a sensation in the Ming Dynasty. Now, coupled with the addition of Western painting techniques, the effect of the painting was definitely something that people in the Ming Dynasty had never seen before.

The entire scroll was less than halfway unfolded, and everyone was already stunned.

I saw an old woman sitting on a couch, holding an incense burner in her hand and looking at the person outside the painting with a friendly expression. The whole portrait was so real that it was unimaginable by people at the time.

The old lady couldn't help but exclaimed: "God, where is this painting? How is it different from looking in the mirror?"

As soon as these words came out, Ma Mengji couldn't help but agree in his heart - this is what the saying goes, "Like a lamp taking a shadow, like a person looking into a mirror"!

The principle of perspective is to use single-point perspective to project the scene in front of you on the canvas. In theory, the effect of perspective painting without making mistakes should be no different from that of a photo.

In fact, because human eyes and cameras are focused, the picture is often particularly clear in the area where attention is concentrated, while the surrounding pictures will be blurry. But when painting by hand, every detail is explained clearly without any blur. Therefore, the person sitting in the large painting in front of me feels even clearer than when I saw Ma Mengji's mother in person.

The impact shocked everyone present and stunned them. Wu Bin's mouth was wide open. After a while, his face turned red with embarrassment, and he raised his hands to Ma Mengji and said, "Today I know that there is someone outside the world, so I should give up my pen and ink!"

Zeng Jing's paintings had a great impact on him. When he thought about his behavior just now, Wu Bin felt that he was incompetent and arrogant. He couldn't help but feel extremely ashamed, and even had the idea of ​​​​not painting anymore.

Everyone was stunned when they saw Wu Bin's behavior. Ma Mengji was still in shock about Zeng Jing's paintings. After he recovered slightly, he quickly caught up without saying, "No one else knows about the painting tonight, sir." He didn't do anything extraordinary, why would Mr. Zhongwen do this?"

Hearing Ma Mengji's words, Wu Bin was slightly comforted. He was suddenly glad that Zeng Jing did not come to compete with him on the spot today, otherwise his face would have been thrown to the ground and he would not be able to pick it up again.

Wu Bin couldn't help but return to Zeng Jing's painting to observe carefully. Although he was looking at the painting again, he couldn't help but be shocked by Zeng Jing's painting, which was almost like a real person.

This time, Ma Mengji finally had the energy to read the inscriptions in the painting carefully. After a while, he smiled and pointed at the inscriptions and said: "Here, Pochen wrote that he learned this painting technique from Wang Jianyang of Fuzhou, before. Mr. Jingguan came to Xinghua a few days ago and sent a message to see him. I think it was only in the past few days that Bochen learned this technique."

He sighed and said: "I have long heard that Mr. Jianyang is very talented. I didn't expect him to have such insight in calligraphy and painting."

Wu Bin looked at Zeng Jing's notes carefully and couldn't help but envy Zeng Jing's good fortune. He had heard a lot about Wang Wenlong's abilities in Nanjing, but he didn't expect that he actually had such miraculous abilities.

Wu Bin couldn't help but ask: "Is Mr. Jianyang still in Xinghua Mansion now?"

Ma Mengji shook his head and said: "Mr. Jianyang used to live in Bochen's house. Now that Bochen has gone on a trip, Wang Jianyang has probably left as well. He has probably returned to Fuzhou now."

Wu Bin sighed and said: "It's a pity that I missed the chance to meet the master."

……

Mulan River, Sanjiangkou.

The Wang Wenlong they mentioned was not yet leaving Xinghua Prefecture, and could not even reach Putian County, where the prefecture capital is located. Instead, he was blocked in the middle of the road.

After leaving Zeng Jing's house that day, Wang Wenlong went back to Ou's house to discuss the conditions for setting up a factory with Hu, and then took a steward of Ou's house with him to return to Fuzhou.

But just as a few people arrived at Mulan Xipan and were about to take a boat to cross the river, Wang Wenlong saw the boatmen on several ferry boats on the river suddenly pointing at each other and yelling at each other.

At first Wang Wenlong only thought it was a quarrel about ferrying and didn't take it seriously, but soon he saw many small boats coming down the Sujiang River from the upper reaches, including large ships that were obviously involved in the shipping business. Then there was a loud noise on the river. There was a loud bang.

Wang Wenlong was stunned when he saw that the people on the big boat actually started throwing stones at the ferry. The rocks flew out and instantly hit the boatman on the boat with severe head injuries.

Along with this, two groups of people came out on the opposite bank of the river, one wearing red belts and the other wearing white belts.

I don't know when hundreds of baskets of pebbles have been carried on the river bank. The red and white groups of men were divided into two teams, and then they threw stones at each other.

The stones were not small pebbles. They were basically the size of a fist. If they hit a person, they would at least be a green patch. The two sides were just throwing them at each other, as if they were risking their lives.

(End of this chapter)