On the afternoon of November 16th (Saturday), our museum will hold the 5th edition of the "Mirror of Beautiful Reading" event in 2024. Mr. Yu Yu, a researcher at the Palace Museum, will give a lecture on the theme of "Expressions of the Times - Ancient Chinese Portrait Painting".

Yu Hu， graduated from the Department of Art History at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1990 as a graduate student. He has been working at the Palace Museum since then, mainly engaged in the identification and research of ancient calligraphy and painting, especially the study of Song and Yuan painting, which has initially formed the theory and methods of textual research images. His main works include "Resolving Doubts in the History of Painting", "Hidden Worries and Qu Jian - Decoding of Zhang Zeduan's Along the River Scene during the Qingming Festival", "A Hundred Questions and Thousands of Miles - Q&A Record of Wang Ximeng's Thousand Mile Landscape Scene", and "General Theory of Image Textual Research" (to be published by Zhejiang University Press).

Portrait painting is a gem in the ancient Chinese art heritage, and as a type of figure painting, it can be traced back to three generations. Through the pre Qin and Han dynasties, Chinese portrait painting gradually reached its peak during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. Gu Kaizhi and others elevated portrait painting to a higher level in theory and practice, and for the first time proposed the theory of "using form to depict spirit". Du Fu praised Gu Shi's painting "Vimalakirti": "I was once thirsty when I saw the painting, and my hatred was elusive when I traced it. The golden millet shadow on the tiger's head is so wonderful and unforgettable," which shows the achievements of portrait painting at that time. During the Tang and Five Dynasties, portrait painting became popular, with portraits appearing in court and tomb murals. In Buddhist grottoes, there were also portraits of offerings. At that time, in addition to professional portrait painters, there were also painters in the folk who made a living by painting portraits. The works of Yan Liben, Gu Hong, and others are well-known in the history of painting, and portrait paintings are known as "photographic" or "vivid", often using thin lines to create intricate patterns and color blending. In addition to inheriting the traditions of the Tang and Five Dynasties, portrait painting in the Song Dynasty was also created by Li Gonglin, who pioneered the white line drawing method, and Liang Kai, who pioneered the simple brush freehand brushwork method, which enriched the expressive techniques of portrait painting. Wang Yi, a native of the Yuan Dynasty, inherited and developed the technique of freehand brushwork in portrait painting, and also wrote "The Secret to Portrait Painting", which became a rare theory in ancient painting history and had a profound influence on Ming and Qing portrait painting.