painter of the eighth century, Wang Wei. Nothing could better determine
his tendencies than monochrome[12] painting in Chinese ink. According to
the records, this was first practiced by him. It constitutes what in
China, as well as in Japan, is called the _literary man's painting_ and
is, in reality, quite closely related to calligraphy. The variety of
shadings and relative colors of objects depend entirely upon the tones of
ink washes. Wang Wei seems to have treated monochrome mainly from the
standpoint of chiaroscuro, in his search for an atmospheric perspective
which should be both fluid and ethereal. It appears that the accentuation
of lines according to rule that is seen later on, where forms are
synthetized--sometimes to an excessive degree--was only a derivation of
the work of Wang Wei and caused by the intrusion of calligraphic
virtuosity into the domain of painting.

[12] "Monochrome is a starved and lifeless term to express the
marvellous range and subtlety of tones of which the preparation of
black soot known as Chinese ink is capable." Laurence Binyon in "The
Flight of the Dragon."--TRANSLATOR.

When we arrive at Wang Wei, landscape is treated as a special subject and
with its own resources. It was he who discovered the principles which
govern the fading of colors and forms in the distance, and who formulated
the laws of atmospheric perspective. Paintings in his style are all
executed in a predominating color which the Chinese call _luo-ts'ing_, a
mineral color of varying shades ranging from a malachite green to a
lapis-lazuli blue. It will be seen why _luo-ts'ing_ gave its name to the
style of Wang Wei.

By means of bluish tints he painted the distant expanse of landscape.
Mountains forming screens in the backgrounds and masses of trees lost in
the distance, are all indicated by the azure tints which intervening
layers of air give to remote objects. But as the foreground is approached,
rightful colors begin to prevail and the azure tints are subtly graded,
passing into a fresh and brilliant green amongst wooded declivities, and
into the natural hue in the foliage of trees. Often heavy mists, spreading
at the foot of high mountains, veil the outlines and still further
emphasize the feeling of limitless space.[13]

[13] I have not seen nor do I know of any paintings which can be said
with certainty to be from the hand of Wang Wei. But from the records
as well as from works directly inspired