Falaise et pins, cascade en suspens

Zhu, Henian, né en 1760 à Taizhou, décédé en 1834

Zhu Henian (1760-1834), a native of Taizhou, Jiangsu, was principally active in Beijing, where his name was associated with those of two other artists, Zhu Angzhi and Zhu Ben, who formed with him the school of the Three Zhu.
Many paintings by Zhu Henian dedicated to eminent figures in lettered circles, such as Weng Fanggang, Yi Bingshou and Ruan Yuan, reflect the scholarly nature of his work, executed in a classical style that demonstrates his perfect knowledge of past masters. However, the inscription on the painting Cliff and Pines, Suspended Waterfall speaks paradoxically of his relationship with regard to these artistic models. The colophon added to the work tells us that it was created in response to the mediocre quality of a painting of the Tiantai Mountains, a copy (moben) that was not a match for the descriptions of them composed by the Tang poet Lu Guimeng ( ?- 881). Having been disappointed by this work seen at a collector’s, Zhu Henian undertook to depict the great pines as he imagined them.
This painting, offered as a gift by the Friends of the Cernuschi Museum, is similar to a work in Tianjin Museum in its dry-brush treatment of the rocks. The compositional arrangement of a cluster of tall trees forming a central axis is also used in one of Zhu Henian’s best-known paintings, The Pavilion of Ten Thousand Scrolls.