In Memory Of Su Shi - Further Study On Qiao Zhongchang's "Postscript To The Red Cliff

This dissertation is a case study of Illustration to the Second Prose Poem on the Red Cliff,attributed to the Northern Song painter Qiao Zhongchang.Four chapters examine the form of expression in the scroll,its inscription and the context behind its production to argue that the scroll may have served a memorial function.The first chapter analyses the pictorial representation of Su Shi’s Second Prose Poem on the Red Cliff looking in detail at the composition,brushwork and text-image relationship,and comparing it with works by other Northern Song painters such as Li Gonglin,as well as later Red Cliff paintings.In the second chapter there is an examination of references in historical texts to Qiao Zhongchang,the possible painter of the scroll,and to the collector Liang Shicheng and colophon writers such as Zhao Lingzhi.It proposes that the scroll was made and used as a memorial to Su Shi.The inscription on the painting is the subject of the third chapter:its position,style and version are investigated,and historical records are referenced to reassess the author of the inscription and its possible memorial significance.It is suggested that Liang Shicheng commissioned the painting.The fourth chapter compares the depiction of Su Shi in the scroll to other portraits of him recorded in historical documents,adding weight to the theory that the motivation for depicting the Second Prose Poem was to serve as a memorial to Su Shi.