Evening Bell from a Mist-Enshrouded Temple, from Eight Views of Xiao and Xiang
Liu Yanchong Chinese
Not on view
In the late eleventh century, a scholar-official named Song Di made eight paintings based on the scenery of the Xiao and Xiang River region in Hunan. Paired with poetic titles that emphasized the melancholy of the misty landscapes, the Eight Views of Xiao and Xiang was a carefully encoded protest against the political climate of the day, in which officials faced the constant threat of exile if they crossed the emperor or his favored officials.
Over the years, the Eight Views became a common theme in landscape painting, not only in China but in Japan and Korea as well. By Liu Yanchong’s time, it was one of many canonical landscape themes and the choice to paint it was not necessarily politically charged.
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