authority, the sublimity of divine love.

If to these fragments of an immense plastic production is added the
analysis furnished by the written records, we can define with some degree
of certitude the place occupied by Wu Tao-tz[)u] in the history of Chinese
painting. The books state that the lines from his brush fairly vibrated;
all united in marvelling at the spirituality emanating from forms thus
defined. He adhered almost exclusively to the use of powerful ink-lines
and denied himself the use of any color, whether scattered or prominent,
which would have robbed his painting of the austerity which was the source
of its surpassing feeling. But in order to appreciate the full value of
the new ideas introduced by Wu into Chinese painting, it is necessary to
understand the exact nature of the technique that was in practice up to
the seventh and eighth centuries, at the opening of the T'ang dynasty.

[Illustration: PLATE VIII. WHITE EAGLE. SUNG PERIOD
Collection of R. Petrucci.]

At that time there prevailed the analytic, painstaking, detailed and very
considered drawing that is common to all periods preceding great
constructive work. This technique admitted the use of two fundamental
methods: one called _double contour_, the other _contour_ or _single
contour_. The method of _double contour_ was applied chiefly to the
drawing of plant life in landscape. It consisted in outlining leaves or
branches by means of two lines of ink placed in apposition. The space thus
enclosed was filled with color. Any peculiarities of formation, knots in
wood and veins in leaves were added subsequently. The name of _single
contour_ was applied to drawings wherein a single ink line outlined the
object, the space enclosed being then filled with color.

If the application of these analytic methods was sometimes carried to the
extreme of delicacy it never became labored. Throughout its entire
evolution the art of the T'ang period is characterized by a sense of the
magnificent. Once the study of forms was exhausted, this type of work was
bound to be superceded. Wu Tao-tz[)u] profited by the work of his
predecessors. Combining in a single stroke of the brush, vigor and an
eclectic character of line, with values and fluidity of tone, he brought
to a supreme unity the two great principles by which things are made
manifest in all the magic of their essential structure. But it must be
understood that this patient investigation of forms was not l