The Huizong On Literati Painting

For nearly a thousand years, historians of painting have regarded Song-dynasty Emperor Huizong merely as an imperial-court painter, only acknowledging his important contribution to the imperial-court painting. That was a serious misunderstanding of the emperor's role as a painter. A few scholars took notice of the connection between his paintings and literati paintings, but they granted him too passive a role by ascribing that connection only to his acceptance of the latter. This paper holds that the emperor made as much contribution to the literati painting as he did to the imperial-court painting. His conscious acceptance of the aesthetic ideas of the literati painting resulted in obvious signs of its influence in the 'Xuanhe Style' that he sponsored. More importantly, he did a lot in supporting, guiding and promoting the literati painting through the building of the art academy system, the integration of poetry, calligraphy, painting and seal cutting, and explorations into literati painting concepts. It was his support that laid a solid foundation for the thriving of the literati painting in the Yuan Dynasty.