ntly broad, to understand and to be stirred.

The painters of the line of Wang Wei during the Sung period, devoted
themselves chiefly to the development of painting in monochrome. They
pursued the study of relations of tones and values of shading up to the
limit of extreme delicacy, and if they mingled color at all with their
subtle evocations, it was with a feeling of unequalled restraint. They
dwelt for the most part in intimacy with Nature. Fleeing from the cares
of court and city, they retired into mountain solitudes, meditating for
long periods before taking up the brush to paint. Thus they portrayed
those mountains enveloped in mists, wherein was revealed the harmony of
the two principles which control the universe. From the depths of valleys
misty vapors arose and cedars and gigantic pines reared their majestic
forms, while, on the threshold of a thatched cabin upon some rocky
plateau, a hermit deep in meditation contemplated the vast expanse of a
landscape of august grandeur.

[Illustration: PLATE XII. MONGOL HORSEMAN RETURNING FROM THE HUNT
By Chao Meng-fu. Yuean Period. Doucet Collection.]

Sometimes, turning to plant forms, they painted the bamboo in black and
white. A single masterly stroke sufficed to draw the cylindrical stalk
from one joint to another, or the pointed leaves which are so quivering
with life that we seem to hear the plaintive voice of the wind "combed,"
as the Chinese writings express it, "by the reeds." Or again, when a
flower was the subject, they suggested it with a simplicity that
presupposes a scientifically exact study of forms. It was by no means the
splendid image which they sought to grasp but the soul itself; at one time
the flower barely open in all its enchanting freshness, at another the
softened petals drooping in languid fashion, revealing a splendor still
present but soon to fade; at times the dew moistening the leaves, the snow
shrouding them with its purity, or the slow monotonous rain beneath which
they drip, motionless. These paintings are always instinct with deep
poetic feeling.

At the hands of the Sung painters the school of landscape and monochrome
technique attained a level which will never be exceeded. The masters of
this period are numerous and are frequently represented by works of almost
certain authenticity. It seems useless to assemble here names which will
convey no meaning to the European reader. It will suffice to illustrate by
a few great figures t