The Intellectual Portrait

Zeng Jing, an outstanding representative of portraitists in the late Ming Dynasty, was an important founder of the concave-convex brushwork, who created the realistic painting Bo Chen school, and affected a great many of portraitists in the Ming and Qing Dynasty. However, the literati painting was the mainstream in the late Ming Dynasty, Zeng Jing, as a folk painter, received less attention to his portrait theory than the practical value. It was a shame for the Chinese portrait history, as well as the research and development of Contemporary portraits. The objectives of this article are to evaluate the formation of Zeng Jing’s art headstream and concave-convex brushwork, and explore the connotation of his realistic painting, by researching the existing portraits and literature, introducing his life and analyzing his work pattern.This article introduced Zeng Jing’s life horizontally, and his art headstream vertically, then analysed the reason of his realistic painting formation and the various influencing factors. Except for historical reasons, Zeng Jing’s deeds and interpersonal relationships had a decisive influence on the formation of his artistic styles. The interpersonal relationships between Zeng Jing and the literati not only improved his influence but also made his paintings gentle and common, improved theme and painting style, innovated Mogu method and concave-convex brushwork, had a profound effect on realistic painting. The fourth chapter analysed the schemata and techniques of Zeng Jing’s typical work, including shapes, color, technique and composition, etc., and revealed the creation characteristic and literati character, provided techniques reference of the ancient realistic painting for the posterity to learn and master. The fifth chapter analyzed the original contribution of Zeng Jing to the development of portraiture, including the innovation in techniques, formation of Bo Chen school, and transformation the function of portraiture, which established his important place in the history of painting.