Li Di (; 1100 – after 1197) was a Chinese imperial

court painter A court painter was an artist who painted for the members of a royal or princely family, sometimes on a fixed salary and on an exclusive basis where the artist was not supposed to undertake other work. Painters were the most common, but the cour ...

during the

Song Dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...

.Barnhart, p. 129. He was noted for painting flowers, birds, bamboo, and animals in motion.Cihai, p. 1262. Li was a member of the Academy of Worthies.

Biography

Li was born in Heyang (河陽), in modern Meng County () in

Henan Province Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

. He worked at the Imperial Painting Academy, and his career spanned the reigns of emperors

Xiaozong Xiaozong can be the name of the following Chinese emperors: * Emperor Xiaozong of Song China (reign: 1162–1189) *Hongzhi Emperor of the Ming Dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, rulin ...

, Guangzong, and Ningzong. The exact dates of his life are uncertain, only that his first signed painting is dated 1125, and his last known painting is dated 1197.

Family

Li Di's son, Li Demao, was also a painter in the Imperial Painting Academy.
Red and White Cotton Roses
',

Tokyo National Museum The or TNM is an art museum in Ueno Park in the Taitō ward of Tokyo, Japan. It is one of the four museums operated by the National Institutes for Cultural Heritage ( :ja:国立文化財機構), is considered the oldest national museum in Japan, ...

, Google Arts & Culture.

Gallery

Li Di - Red and White Cotton Roses - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Red and White Cotton Roses'' (1197).

. White hibiscuses.jpg, ''White Cotton Roses'' (1197). Tokyo National Museum. Li Di-Maple Falcon and Pheasant.jpg, ''Maple, Falcon, and

Golden Pheasant The golden pheasant (''Chrysolophus pictus''), also known as the Chinese pheasant, and rainbow pheasant, is a gamebird of the order Galliformes (gallinaceous birds) and the family Phasianidae (pheasants). The genus name is from Ancient Greek ' ...

'' (1196).

Palace Museum The Palace Museum () is a huge national museum complex housed in the Forbidden City at the core of Beijing, China. With , the museum inherited the imperial royal palaces from the Ming and Qing dynasties of China and opened to the public in 192 ...

. Li Di-Hunting Dog.jpg, ''Hunting Dog''. Palace Museum. 名绘集珍册 9 宋李迪春潮带雨.jpg, ''The Spring Tide Brings Rain''.

National Palace Museum The National Palace Museum (; Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: Kwet-li̍p kù-kiung pok-vu̍t-yèn), is a museum in Taipei, Republic of China (Taiwan). It has a permanent collection of nearly 700,000 pieces of Chinese artifacts and artworks, many of which wer ...

. Buffles et vacher fuyant l'orage, attribué à Li Di.png, ''Oxherds in Wind and Rain''. National Palace Museum.

Notes

References

*Barnhart, R. M. et al. (1997). ''Three Thousand Years of Chinese Painting''. New Haven, Yale University Press. . *Cihai Bianji Weiyuanhui () (1979). ''Cihai'' (). Shanghai,

Shanghai Lexicographical Publishing House Shanghai Lexicographical Publishing House () is a publishing house in mainland China, specialized in publishing reference works. Its precedent was the Ci Hai Editing Institute affiliated to Zhong Hua Book Co. (中华书局辞海编辑所), founded ...

. Song dynasty painters 1100s births Year of death unknown Court painters Artists from Luoyang Painters from Henan 12th-century Chinese painters 12th-century Chinese people {{China-painter-stub