Ren Renfa


Ren Renfa , courtesy name Ziming, pseudonym Yueshan Daoren, was an expert of irrigation works, artist, and a government official during the Yuan dynasty. He was born in Qinglong Town, Songjiang.
Ren drew some outstanding paintings of horses, people, flowers and birds. His style is similar to the artists of the Tang dynasty and Li Gongling in the Song dynasty. His paintings of horses are comparable to those by Zhao Mengfu.
Ren's hydrological works include dredging the area in what is now Beijing to improve the water supply and leading a team to build embankments after the Yellow River burst its banks.

Chu Yu Ti

A prominent work of his is Chu Yu Tu ; on silk, with color, height 32.4 cm, width 201.9 cm, currently in a collection of The Palace Museum, Beijing.
In this painting, three officials of the royal stables are leading four horses out the stable. The painting has a very explicit Tang style. The people in the painting are dressed in Tang style costumes. All these reflect that the artist admired the culture of the Tang dynasty. The people and horses are spread out in the painting, which is a main characteristic of paintings by Ren.
At the end of the painting, there are some words about the artist and the year of painting. "ZhiYuan GengCheng ChunWang San Ri, Zuo ChuYu Tu Yu KeShi Tang, YueShan Ren ZiMing Ji ". There is a poem written by the Qianlong Emperor, who also wrote some hand writings in the middle of the painting. This is one of the earliest works of Ren, and was drawn in 1280 when he was 27.