The story of the painter

In ancient times, painters with their exquisite painting skills, high standards, and incomparable wisdom, painted beautiful painting scrolls, but also left an interesting and moving story for the world. In this issue, we present a set of stories of painters.

The three painters' portraits

At the end of the Kangxi period, there is a guard named Ji, who was with the Kangxi master pacified Sampan, blinded one left eye, a great achievement, now although it has passed the age of armor, still, every day danced with guns and sticks, riding a horse and drawing a bow, the power of the year.

On this day, Ji guard invited the local prestigious three painters to draw a portrait of himself. The three painters were brothers, and Ji Shoubei said to them, "I will pay fifty taels of silver, each of you three paint a portrait for me, and the best one will get fifty taels of silver in addition to the money for his work, and I will give another fifty taels of reward."

First of all, the elder brother drew a portrait of Ji Shoubei. Ji Shoubei was sitting in the middle of the martial arts training ground, and the elder brother devoted himself to painting Ji Shoubei as majestic and strong. As for the blind eye, of course, we have to follow the rules of portrait painting, there is one, there are two.

Ji Shoubei looked at the portrait of the eldest brother, shook his head, and did not say anything.

Next, it was the turn of the second brother to Ji Shoubei's portrait. Ji Shoubei deliberately brought the portrait drawn by the eldest brother, and let the second brother read it before sitting on the chair for the second brother to draw. Second Brother thought: Big Brother painted the standard rules, as impeccable, but the master is not satisfied, must be that Big Brother painted him as a one-eyed aversion.

So, the second brother meticulously finished painting the image, and then deliberately retouched some, the Ji Shoubei painted the eyes of the gods, a tiger, a look is a brave warrior. Ji Shoubei looked at the second brother's portrait, also shook his head and sighed, but did not speak.

Finally, it was the turn of the third senior brother to Ji Shoubei's portrait. Ji Shoubei took the two senior brothers' works and showed them to him, saying, "One is revealing the shortcomings of the old man, and the other is hypocritical to the core." Hearing this, the third senior brother was in a difficult position when he suddenly saw the bow and arrows on the weapon rack and was inspired to draw them immediately with a clear mind. Soon, he finished the portrait and handed it over to Ji.

Ji took a look at the portrait, only to see himself dressed in a war robe, waist hanging arrow pot, hand pulling a hard bow, tightly closed left eye, in the distance to aim at the arrow target. The portrait was drawn with both shape and spirit, and Ji Shoubei smiled with satisfaction. Finally, the third master received a hundred taels of silver and went home happily.

Returning the soul

During the Ming Dynasty, there was a down-and-out scholar named Song Zian, who took up the job of "painter" to make a living. To be frank, "painter" is actually "painting corpses", that is, painting portraits of the dead.

Late one night, Song Zian was reading at night, when suddenly a lightning bolt crossed the night sky, the door creaked open, and a girl dressed in white appeared at the door and said quietly, "Painter Song, can you draw a portrait for me?"