In a word, they were more
accustomed to the Northern style and had brought with them from the
Northern regions their own artists, both Chinese and barbarian.

The Northern temperament, reflective, strong and positive, now began to
assume mastery over the bewildered reveries of the Southern nature. Things
are seen to change. Even the masters who continue the Sung tradition
infuse a somewhat more robust quality into their works, but, in so doing,
they lose a certain stirring depth which gave the work of their
predecessors such an exceptional character. Caught between these two
tendencies, Yuean painting takes on new traits, which are perhaps more
accessible to European mentality because they are more simple and direct.
These observations apply to the general evolution of Chinese painting from
the end of the thirteenth to the end of the fourteenth centuries. We must
now consider it more in detail, citing by way of illustration a few of the
painters who expressed the spirit of the time.

At its inception the Yuean dynasty had inherited the last masters of the
Sung period, among them two artists who are recognized as of the first
rank. Chao Meng-fu--known also under the appellation of Tzu[)u]-ang--was
born in 1254. He was a descendant of the first Sung emperor and held an
hereditary post which he resigned at the time the Yuean dynasty came into
power. He retired into private life until 1286, then when called back to
court as a high functionary, he became a supporter of the new dynasty.
Chao Meng-fu painted landscape as well as figures, flowers and the bamboo,
but he is most celebrated for his horses. Numberless paintings of
horses are attributed to this master; needless to say the great majority
of these are not by his hand.

[Illustration: PLATE XVI. PORTRAIT OF A PRIEST
Yuean or Early Ming Period. Collection of H. Riviere.]

As a landscape painter he seems to have worked in the style of the
Southern School, with a fine, simple line in which may still be seen
traces of the ancient tradition that extends back to Ku K'ai-chih. This
characteristic line is found in the paintings of men and horses where the
hand of Chao Meng-fu is distinguishable. He bequeaths it to the large
school which he founded, and, through his pupils, it becomes the
inheritance of his imitators in the Ming period. It is more than probable
that almost all of the paintings by his pupils, bearing the signature
Tz[)u]-ang, are attributed to the master