Shên Kua, Gems of Chinese Literature — Aerial Perspective (1922)
“ Now a horse is never seen in a painting to be more than a foot in size, which is a great proportionate reduction, and therefore the hair would be far too fine to be reproduced; whereas a rat generally has about the same measurement as in real life, and therefore the hair ought to be painted. ”
Shên Kua, Gems of Chinese Literature — Aerial Perspective (1922)
“ For in landscape there is a method of looking at big things as if they were small (aerial perspective) . If people looked at imitation hills in the same way that they look at real hills, that is, looking from the base up to the summit, it would only be possible to see one range at a time, and not range behind range ”
Shên Kua, Gems of Chinese Literature — Aerial Perspective (1922)
“ In painting oxen and tigers, it is always customary to paint the hair, but the hair of horses is not painted. On my asking an artist why this was, he replied that a horse’s hair is too fine, and cannot be brought out ”
