From the form of composition, the painter skillfully takes pictures from three-quarters angle. The depth and border of the background set off the femininity and elegance of the woman's figure very tacitly, and they are skillfully linked with the background, so that the viewer ignores the protagonist under the guidance of the lines of the picture, but directly enters the atmosphere of the whole three-dimensional space, which has strong decorative meaning and a sense of bringing in. [4]

In terms of composition, a remarkable difference between Yin Zhen Beauty Picture and the previous generation of beauty pictures lies in its extensive use of "line drawing", which is what China people call western focus perspective. Take a painting in The Beauty of Yin Zhen as an example. In the picture, the beauty is holding a plum blossom ice crack fan, sitting under a dry plane tree and sipping new tea. The open moon door behind her seems to be an invitation to guide the viewer to look inside. A bookshelf with black paint and gold paint is exposed in a corner, and a path extends backward along the exquisite red railing, further guiding the viewer's line of sight across the courtyard. Obviously, what is captured in the picture is what the viewer sees in front of him. [3]

picture

The word "beauty" refers to idealized and fictional beauty, which is an indispensable part of literature, painting and other arts. The Beautiful Map of Yin Zhen is one of these paintings. Although it is a palace painting, it is not a rigid courtyard with thousands of people in the usual sense. The twelve beauties in the painting are dignified and demure, with extraordinary manners, slim posture and beautiful facial features, with cloud temples, arch eyebrows, phoenix eyes and red lips, especially the delicate hands exposed from the sleeves. If the skin is firm and the nails are clear and round. People often say that to see a beautiful woman, you must first look at your hand, and the painter must know it well. The beauty in the painting is just like the description of Lin Daiyu in A Dream of Red Mansions, whether it is "leaning on the couch and staring at the magpie outside the window", "sitting by the window, gently lifting the curtain, watching the snow and enjoying the plum blossoms" or "holding the page half open and thoughtfully for a moment", which is beautiful and delicate and has an attractive aesthetic feeling. [3]

Yin Zhen Beauty Map also depicts all aspects of a beautiful woman's boudoir life in a subtle and realistic way. From their exquisite costumes, gorgeous patterns and elegant furniture, to gorgeous window sticks, exquisite books and smart flowers and birds, they have quite the style of the Southern Song Dynasty Painting Academy. Delicate and rigorous painting techniques are promoted to luxurious royal style here. Although it is not as graceful as the figure paintings in Tang and Five Dynasties, it shows a unique artistic conception and forms a peaceful and refined atmosphere. It can be said that The Picture of Twelve Beautiful Women represents the typical style of palace ladies painting in Qing Dynasty. [3]

style

In terms of painting style, "Twelve Beauty" continues the court painting style of Qing Dynasty, and the eyes, eyebrows and hairstyles of beauty have already been established. There is not much innovation and development, which is the essence of Yongzheng's "existence". In his mind, beauty is a fixed representation, which also reflects his traditional feudal emperor thought. [4]

poetry

The quatrains on the screen and the poems on the scroll in the painting are half hidden and half present, which perfectly blend into the whole scholarly atmosphere. It seems that it is unintentional, but in fact it is what the painter has done for himself. According to textual research, these quatrains are all written by Yin Zhen, and some of them have been included in The Beauty Show, Volume 26 of the Collected Works of Yin Zhen. Taking one's own works as the background, presenting ornaments will not be sharp, but will make this series of works intriguing and more meaningful. [4]

skill

The beautiful scenery is in the foreground of the picture, but the fantasy space behind her is constantly tempting viewers to peek into the mystery through layers of shielding. "Line drawing" is mainly used to express the architecture or indoor space of the picture. This reference to western painting is not only a progress in painting technology, but also a new spatial expression compared with traditional Chinese painting, which opens up a new visual experience for people. From this point of view, the "Twelve Beauty Pictures" not only shows the attractive figures to the viewers, but also contains China painters' initial understanding of the perspective of western painting. [3]

colour

In terms of color setting, "Twelve Beautiful Women" also draws lessons from the color expression of western paintings, which enhances the realism of the picture and modeling. As Song Nian said in Qing Dynasty: "Divide yin and yang, and see bumps immediately." It is worth noting that this technique of "light and shade is concave and convex" is also integrated into the aesthetic tradition of China's painting, which abandons the expression of facial shadows that people in China don't like. When expressing the beauty's face and facial features, the shade of color is used to distinguish the effect of light and shade, making it soft, and the picture is still full of the aesthetic characteristics of Chinese painting. [3]

Later generations influence editors.

Derivative works

From 20 14 to 12, the Palace Museum launched an animation based on "Yin Zhen Beauty Map"-"Yongzheng is Wonderful and Moving". The most commendable thing is that these beautiful women, who were originally "quiet as flowers and shining water", did not weaken their previous temperament after moving. On the contrary, the moving beauty shows the noble and elegant life of ancient court women more vividly and truly. [5]

Historical inheritance editor

The Beautiful Scenery of Yin Zhen was originally a set of silk paintings hanging on the screen, which was first placed on the willow trees around my Yuanmingyuan villa in the early Qing Dynasty. In the tenth year of Yongzheng (1732), the emperor suddenly ordered the picture of twelve beauties to be removed from the screen and re-mounted. Later, the paintings were moved to Yan Xi Palace in the Forbidden City and hidden in the Deep Palace, thus avoiding the looting of Yuanmingyuan by the British and French allied forces in 1860. In the 1950s, these pictures were found in the storeroom of the Forbidden City, and now they are in the Palace Museum in Beijing.