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Anatomy of a Masterpiece: How to Read Chinese Paintings
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明 文徵明 樓居圖 軸
Wen Zhengming (1470–1559)
Living Aloft: Master Liu's Retreat, dated 1543
Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper; 37 1/2 x 18 in. (95.2 x 45.7 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Promised Gift of Marie-Hélène and Guy Weill (L.2001.85.2)
See an alternate view of this artwork.
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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 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. Source: 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.
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