明 文徵明 樓居圖軸|Living Aloft: Master Liu's Retreat

Wen Zhengming

1543 · Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper · Asian Art

Wen Zhengming painted Living Aloft for his friend Liu Lin (1474–1561), who, at the age of seventy, had retired from government service but had not yet built a home suitable for his new life. Wen's painting presents an idealized vision of life in retirement: separated from the outside world by a stream and a rustic wall, two friends enjoy each other's company in a two-story hall that is further isolated in a tall grove of trees. Wen elaborates on the pleasures of such a life in his accompanying poem: Immortals have always delighted in pavilion-living, Windows open on eight sides-eyebrows smiling. Up above towers and halls well up, Down below, clouds and thunder are vaguely sensed. Reclining on a dais, a glimpse of Japan, Leaning on a balustrade, the sight of Manchuria. While worldly affairs shift and change, In their midst a lofty man is at ease. (After Ling-yün Shih Liu, trans., in Richard Edwards et al., The Art of Wen Cheng-ming [1470–1559] [Ann Arbor: Museum of Art, University of Michigan, 1976], p. 150)

Artist

Wen Zhengming

Date

1543

Medium

Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper

Culture

China

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Bequest of Marie-Hélène and Guy Weill, in honor of Wen C. Fong, 2015