The Peach Blossom Spring

In the long calligraphic verse written on this painting, Wen Jia scrutinizes historical tragedies, advocating for the idealism in The Peach Blossom Spring by Tao Yuanming (365–427). The story describes a fisherman’s discovery of a paradise located by a flowing spring surrounded by blossoming peach trees, where life was unspoiled by worldly turmoil. Wen visualizes the peach blossom spring in this composition, starting with the stream flowing through green mountains and unfolding into a basin valley among lightly colored peach blossoms.

As the second son of Wen Zhengming, Wen Jia was influenced by the Wu school, a painting movement active around Suzhou during the sixteenth century. This artistic movement, free from the obligation of serving at court, explored the integration of poetry, calligraphy, and painting into lyrical landscapes. Like other Wu scholar-artists, Wen Jia favored painting traditional themes in muted color palettes, with a focus on brushwork.