2008: Snow landscape. Qian Du (1763-1844)
Ink on paper | H: 132 cm; L: 26,2 cm | Dated 1818
MC 2008-4. Gift of the Society of Friends of the Cernuschi Museum
Qian Du was from the Hangzhou area of Zhejiang. He belonged to a wealthy family where the art of painting was cultivated. Beyond the family collection, the trips were to nourish the painting of Qian Du. His literary works like the Songhu huayi, contain enlightening remarks on the painter's art. Qian Du's work illustrates the enduring vitality of cultural life and artistic creation in Jiangnan on the eve of the turmoil of the Taiping uprising.
This winter landscape was created in 1818. The snow-capped peaks overlook a shelter surrounded by tall pines where a solitary figure is seated. The composition takes a very original advantage of the long and narrow format: the compact massif formed by the pines is taken up in height by the silhouette of the mountain ranges. The poem is very simple, in keeping with the harsh conditions of the season. It evokes the proximity of the stove, the smell of cooked vegetables, the crash of the wind in the branches. The circumstances are specified by Qian Du who presents the painting as a memory of his visit to Bai Xia, near Nanjing, in 1816.
In calligraphy, Qian Du, who had formed his style after the models of Yu Shinan (558-638) and Chu Suiliang (597-658), is inspired by the elegant writing of Yun Shouping. The pictorial work, extremely meticulous, evokes the school of Wu, in particular Wen Zhengming. Qian Du had indeed had the opportunity to study the master's works in the family collection, which had contributed to the formation of his style in a decisive way. If the calligraphy of Yun Shouping, and the painting of Wen Zhengming could be considered as models of refinement, Qian Du seems to have sought to exceed his models by the delicacy of his style.
Situated on the fringes of orthodoxy, Qian Du likes to revisit the work of the masters of the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries, while introducing colorful harmonies and perspective foreshortenings that are his own. In this winter landscape, the bias of verticality results in the superimposition of the landscape elements. This principle of composition also characterizes a work by Qian Du kept at the Beijing Palace Museum (ZGMSQJ, Huihua bian, Qingdai huihua (xia), No. 120). This assertive polychrome painting is of substantially comparable dimensions and dated 1819, a few months after the creation of the winter landscape.
