A Comparative Study Of The Three Editions Of The Ming And Qing Dynasties

"Ascending the River at Qing Ming Festival" made by Zhang Zeduan uses manuscripts form and Simple realistic way to show us the prosperous urban feature and natural scenery of Bianliang, the capital of Northern Song dynasty. It nearly expresses all aspects of social life at that time with panoramical composition, possessing a high influence and Literature reference value in Chinese painting history. During period from Song to Qing, "Ascending the River at Qing Ming Festival", the classic topic, was widely spread among the artists living in Suzhou area. Now the most popular versions are Ming dynasty one of Qiu Ying and Qing dynasty one of artists working in art academies. Although they retain the similar layout and sequence with Song dynasty version, they have had deep changes in their locations, plots or colors of drawing language, which can reflect the features of the times and aesthetic idea, as well as their different artist styles.This paper discusses the three versions by means of analysis, image, and comparison.Firstly, it analyses their own characteristics from creation standpoint, composition, content, and drawing technique under different social background. Additionally, it focuses on distinction and evolution of styles in the field of characters and structure. By doing these studies, we can better realize innovations and deficiencies of the later two versions in subject expansion and technique changing, discovering deep cultural and aesthetic value of this unique topic. All in all, this paper can supply important reference in theory to the study of other paintings evolution sharing the same name.