Landscape with People

A farmer in loosened shirts is lying on the back of an unyoked ox and leisurely taking a rest under a tree. ‘A man lying on the back of an ox’ is a somewhat unique object of paintings. He lies back comfortably and even has an ascetic appearance apparently not worrying for aliving. The object has a thread of connection with unworldly objects of figure paintings in landscapes which prevailed during the mid-Joseon dynasty.It is a typical Che-school painting in which the mountain formed the background, and a figure was located in the foreground center of the painting. The painting shows the distinguished Che-school signature images of the mid-Joseon dynasty, including the composition depicting a figure with mountains and trees for background and filling the white space. The tree drawing technique associated with Haejomyois recognizable for the ‘crab-claw’ branches of a tree, the mountainsand rocks with a striking contrast between black and white, an ascetic posture of a figure, and the lines of clothes. The painting bore thepainter Kim Myeong-guk’s (1600-?) tidy stroke of signature ‘Yeondam’in the upper right-hand corner. Kim Myeong-guk was a representative painter who painted Che-school style of many figure paintings inlandscape with bold strokes and distinguished coloring technique in the 17th century. The painting is a typical Che-school style of figure painting in landscape, depicting the pleasure of a free life in seclusion.