Ren Yisuwu Shepherd Map Axis

[Ren Yi’s Suwu Shepherd Map Axis]

The Suwu Shepherd Map Axis, made by Ren Yi in the Qing Dynasty, paper version, colored, 149.5 cm vertically and 81 cm horizontally
Among Ren Yi’s many character stories, “Su Wu Shepherd” is one of the themes he describes more. According to the records in The Book of Han · The Biography of Su Wu, Su Wu, who was named Ziqing, once sent to the Huns as a commander in the name of Zhonglang under the order of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty, was left in the Beihai (today’s Belga Lake) for 19 years after his intention to surrender Su Wu. Su Wu expressed a strong patriotic spirit by “herding sheep on the stick, lying up and holding, and falling the banners”. Ren Yi, who was born as a citizen and once turned to war with the Taiping Army, felt deeply that “living in a vast expanse of land is no different from being in a foreign country” in the face of the accelerated colonization of the country, and even placed hopes on “heroes in the wilderness”. It was this thought that drove him to place a sense of hardship in his paintings and eulogize Gao Shang’s patriotic sentiments. In the picture, Su Wu stands in the center of the picture with the Han Festival in his hand, like a solid stone, and looks out of the picture, as if looking at the Han Kingdom from afar. His eyes are firm and confident, showing his unyielding spirit
The proportion of the figures in the painting is accurate. In addition to maintaining the characteristics of Chen Hongshou’s figures, it also integrates the techniques of western sketch and sketch. The lines are concise and summarized, with strength, and consistent with the theme. The rendering of color and ink is coordinated and unified, especially the sheep use freehand brushwork to accurately depict the shape of the sheep in the black, white and gray ink changes, and also depict the scene of the sheep huddled together because of the cold, which sets off the bad environment, thus highlighting the character’s fortitude and fortitude against difficulties and obstacles.