明 林良 二鷹圖 軸|Two hawks in a thicket

Lin Liang

mid- 15th century · Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk · Asian Art

One of the leading court painters of bird-and-flower scenes, the Cantonese artist Lin Liang specialized in bold, expressive, monochrome depictions of birds in the wild. Never before had there been such hawks as those painted by Lin Liang. Standing like monuments to strength and courage on the highest frozen peaks swept by bitter winds, living in worlds that lesser creatures could not inhabit, Lin's great birds are embodiments of heroism. In contrast to his usual image of hawks silhouetted against the sky and surveying their surroundings from a high perch, however, these noble birds appear withdrawn and reclusive, inviolable and inaccessible, as if lost in a dense forest of old trees and thick bamboo where no one could possibly reach them.

Artist

Lin Liang

Date

mid- 15th century

Medium

Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk

Culture

China

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Gift of Bei Shan Tang Foundation, 1993