26 THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART 



in Ssiich'uan, and sent Wu Tao-tzii to paint it. Wu came back vnth 

 nothing in the way of sketches, and when the Emperor asked for an expla- 

 nation, he replied, " I have it all in my heart." Then he went into one of 

 the halls of the palace, and "in a single day he threw off a hundred miles 

 of landscape." 



At that date Li Ssii-hsiin was much in vogue as a landscape painter, 

 and the Emperor bade him to give a taste of his quality in the same hall. Li 

 took several months to complete his picture; but on seeing the two works 

 together the Emperor exclaimed, " Li Ssii-hsiin 's picture of months, and Wu 

 Tao-tzu's picture of a day, are both masterpieces indeed." 



In one of the private apartments of the Palace Wu painted five dragons, 

 the scales of which were so lifelike that the creatures seemed to move ; and 

 whenever it rained a thick mist came from the pictiu-e, dragons being 

 associated by the Chinese with vapour and clouds. 



The lines in which he excelled were numerous, including human beings, 

 Buddhas, gods and devils, birds and beasts, landscape, buildings, and 

 vegetation. One writer tells us that "he was fond of wine and feats of 

 strength, and that as a preliminary to work he always made himself tipsy." 

 Another says that he had a keen eye to proper remuneration for his work. 

 We also learn, but without fiuther detail, that "in landscape he initiated a 

 school of his own;" on the other hand, he was thought to have been "a 

 reincarnation of Chang Seng-yu." 



A great number of Wu's religious picttu-es are described more or less in 

 detail. There was "Purgatory," "the sight of which not only made the 

 beholder's hair stand on end," but inspired the butchers and fishmongers 

 at the capital with such horror that many of them abandoned the trades 

 against which all the anathemas of Buddhism were hurled and sought a 

 livelihood in other directions. Huang Po-ssii, the art critic , wrote, in 1116, 

 the following note on the above work. "This picture, which was painted 

 by Wu Tao-tzii, is very different from those now to be seen in temples and 

 pagodas. It has no 'Knife Forest' (where the wicked are impaled on 

 swords), no caldron of boiling water, no ox-headed or green-faced lictors; 

 and yet its gloomy horrors are such as to make beholders sweat and their 

 hair stand on end, themselves shivering all the time, though it may not 

 be cold. It has caused men to seek after virtue and give up evil practices; 

 after which, who can say that painting is only a small art?" 



In incidental connection with the paintings of Wu Tao-tzu we read 

 that in 746 "the likenesses of Li Fin-fu and Ch'en Hsi-lieh (two well-known 

 statesmen) were carved in stone. " The Buddhist rock sculptures at Lung- 

 men in the province of Honan have recently (Journal Asiatique, Juillet- 

 Aoiit 1902) been assigned to the year A. D. 642. 



Then there is his great picture of Kuan-yin (Avalokitesvara), now popu- 

 larly known as the Goddess of Mercy, which, as seen in the modem woodcut, 

 scarcely suggests the idea of an acknowledged masterpiece. In Chinese 

 eyes, however, it is important as definitely settling the sex of Kuan-yin, 

 over which there has been much controversy among critics ignorant of the 

 real facts of the case. There is also the picture of the dragon combing 



