Fei Danxu (; 1801–1850) was an itinerant Chinese painter during the

Qing Dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

.Barnhart: Page 378. Fei's

courtesy name A courtesy name (), also known as a style name, is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to one's given name. This practice is a tradition in the East Asian cultural sphere, including China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.Ulrich Theobald ...

was Zitiao (子苕), and his

art name An art name (pseudonym or pen name), also known by its native names ''hào'' (in Mandarin), ''gō'' (in Japanese), ''ho'' (in Korean), and ''tên hiệu'' (in Vietnamese), is a professional name used by East Asian artists, poets and writers. The ...

s were Xiaolou (晓楼) and Huanxisheng (环溪生). A later pseudonym was Ouweng (偶翁). He was a native of Wucheng (乌程 - now Wuxing,

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiang ...

).Cihai: Page 1433. Fei began painting when he was very young in Wucheng. He later traveled throughout Zhejiang and

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...

provinces to practiced his art. He is most noted for his paintings of beautiful women.Barnhart: Page 292. Among his paintings of beautiful women is "Twelve Beauties of Jinling," which features twelve of the major female characters in the novel

Dream of the Red Chamber ''Dream of the Red Chamber'' (''Honglou Meng'') or ''The Story of the Stone'' (''Shitou Ji'') is a novel composed by Cao Xueqin in the middle of the 18th century. One of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature, it is known for ...

. He was often associated with the painter

Gai Qi Gai Qi (; 1774–1829), courtesy name Bowen 伯蕰, art names Qiliang 七郎 and Yuhu Waishi 玉壶外史, was a poet and painter born in western China during the Qing dynasty. As an artist, he was active in Shanghai. His paintings mainly conce ...

in what was known as the "Gai Fei" school. Fei's younger brother Dancheng, as well as his sons and grandsons, continued the tradition of painting beautiful women, as did Gai Qi's grandson.''Zhongguo lidai shinü huaji'' 中國歷代仕女畫集 (A collection of paintings of women through the ages) edited by Guo Xueshi 郭学是 and Zhang Zikang. 张子康 (Tianjin: Tianjin renmin meishu chubanshe and Shijiazhuang: Hebei jiaoyu chubanshe, 1998), p.11

Notes

References

* Barnhart, R. M. et al. (1997). Three thousand years of Chinese painting. New Haven, Yale University Press. * Ci hai bian ji wei yuan hui (辞海编辑委员会). ''

Cihai The ''Cihai'' is a large-scale dictionary and encyclopedia of Standard Mandarin Chinese. The Zhonghua Book Company published the first ''Cihai'' edition in 1938, and the Shanghai Lexicographical Publishing House revised editions in 1979, 1989, 19 ...

. Shanghai: Shanghai ci shu chu ban she （上海辞书出版社）, 1979. * ''Zhongguo lidai shinü huaji'' 中國歷代仕女畫集 (A collection of paintings of women through the ages) edited by Guo Xueshi 郭学是and Zhang Zikang. 张子康 (Tianjin: Tianjin renmin meishu chubanshe and Shijiazhuang: Hebei jiaoyu chubanshe, 1998) reproduces some of the paintings at nos.161-165 and contains a brief biography on p. 11. {{DEFAULTSORT:Fei, Danxu 1801 births 1850 deaths Qing dynasty painters People from Huzhou Painters from Zhejiang 19th-century Chinese painters