O General, descended from Wei's Emperor Wu,
You are nobler now than when a noble...
Conquerors and their velour perish,
But masters of beauty live forever.
...With your brush-work learned from Lady Wei
And second only to Wang Xizhi's,
Faithful to your art, you know no age,
Letting wealth and fame drift by like clouds.
...In the years of Kaiyuan you were much with the Emperor,
Accompanied him often to the Court of the South Wind.
When the spirit left great statesmen, on walls of the Hall of Fame
The point of your brush preserved their living faces.
You crowned all the premiers with coronets of office;
You fitted all commanders with arrows at their girdles;
You made the founders of this dynasty, with every hair alive,
Seem to be just back from the fierceness of a battle.
...The late Emperor had a horse, known as Jade Flower,
Whom artists had copied in various poses.
They led him one day to the red marble stairs
With his eyes toward the palace in the deepening air.
Then, General, commanded to proceed with your work,
You centred all your being on a piece of silk.
And later, when your dragon-horse, born of the sky,
Had banished earthly horses for ten thousand generations,
There was one Jade Flower standing on the dais
And another by the steps, and they marvelled at each other...
The Emperor rewarded you with smiles and with gifts,
While officers and men of the stud hung about and stared.
...Han Gan, your follower, has likewise grown proficient
At representing horses in all their attitudes;
But picturing the flesh, he fails to draw the bone-
So that even the finest are deprived of their spirit.
You, beyond the mere skill, used your art divinely-
And expressed, not only horses, but the life of a good man...
Yet here you are, wandering in a world of disorder
And sketching from time to time some petty passerby
People note your case with the whites of their eyes.
There's nobody purer, there's nobody poorer.
...Read in the records, from earliest times,
How hard it is to be a great artist.
Original Poem:
「丹青引赠曹将军霸」
杜甫
将军魏武之子孙， 于今为庶为青门；
英雄割据虽已矣！ 文采风流今尚存。
学书初学卫夫人， 但恨无过王右军。
丹青不知老将至， 富贵于我如浮云。
开元之中常引见， 承恩数上南熏殿，
凌烟功臣少颜色， 将军下笔开生面。
良相头上进贤冠， 猛将腰间大羽箭。
褒公鄂公毛发动， 英姿飒爽犹酣战。
先帝天马玉花骢， 画工如山貌不同。
是日牵来赤墀下， 迥立阊阖生长风。
诏谓将军拂绢素， 意匠惨淡经营中；
斯须九重真龙出， 一洗万古凡马空。
玉花却在御榻上， 榻上庭前屹相向；
至尊含笑催赐金， 圉人太仆皆惆怅，
弟子韩干早入室， 亦能画马穷殊相；
干惟画肉不画骨， 忍使骅骝气凋丧。
将军画善盖有神， 偶逢佳士亦写真；
即今漂泊干戈际， 屡貌寻常行路人。
涂穷反遭俗眼白， 世上未有如公贫；
但看古来盛名下， 终日坎壈缠其身。
Interpretation:
In 764 A.D., Du Fu met Cao Ba, a famous painter who was relegated to the status of a commoner, in Chengdu and wrote this poem to send him off. Through the description of the painter’s learning and painting, the poet shows the painter’s life encounters with either prosperity or decline.
The first stanza describes Cao Ba’s family history and his study of painting. He is a descendant of Cao Cao, Emperor Wu of Wei, who has now been demoted to the common people. Although the heroic deeds of his ancestors have passed, Cao Cao’s literary style still exists today. The implication is that Cao Ba is able to carry on his ancestor’s cultural reputation. Then he wrote that he had learned calligraphy from Mrs. Wei’s calligraphy style, but he hated that he could not surpass Wang Xizhi. So, he switched to study painting, immersed in it all his life, not knowing that old age will come. His noble sentiments, regard fame and wealth as floating clouds. Here, the poet to “learning books” contrast his “learning painting” dedicated, fully expressed Cao Ba diligence, hard work, enterprising spirit and noble sentiments.
The second paragraph describes Cao Ba’s artistic achievement in figure painting. During the reign of Emperor Tang Xuanzong, he was honored to see Emperor Tang Xuanzong by imperial decree, and ascended to the Nanfen Hall several times. At that time, the portrait of the ministers on the Smoke Pavilion had been faded for a long time, and he was instructed to repaint them, and he painted them as if he were a god, with a unique style, each of them vivid. The ministers wore court hats and the generals had large arrows in their waists. Duan Zhixuan, Lord of praise, Lord of E, Yuchi Jingde is hair flying, valiant, as if to run to the frontier “battle” in general. Can be seen his character painting skills of the degree of excellence.
The third paragraph is the center of gravity of the whole poem, the Cao Ba paintings of the wonderful horse. First, he writes about the process of painting the imperial horse, the Jade Buckskin. At that time, many painters failed to paint the horse, but one day the buckskin was brought to the palace gate in front of the red-colored steps, standing tall with its head held high and its hyenas in the wind. Emperor Tang Xuanzong ordered Cao Ba to paint the buckskin on the spot. Cao Ba observed and pondered, then put down his brush and waved it, and in a few moments, it was finished. The horse is magical and majestic, as if it were a flying dragon leaping out of the palace gate, and “all the mortal horses of the past” are dwarfed by it. The use of contrasting techniques highlights Cao Ba’s skill in painting horses. Next, the painting of the horse on the imperial couch is compared to the real horse standing in front of the court, making it difficult to distinguish the real one from the fake one. Tang Xuanzong happily urged his attendants to give him a gold reward, and the officials in charge of horses and carriages and horse breeders all marveled in disappointment!
The fourth paragraph, write Cao Ba was relegated to exile in the civil society, Kan Rin fell forced situation. Like such a good painting with God’s generation of masters, in the past only occasionally for the “good Shi” portrait, but now the war turmoil, exile, he had to sell paintings to make a living, and often for the pedestrians on the road to paint a portrait. What is even more detestable is that because of his poverty, he was looked down upon and despised by the world! It is said that since ancient times, those who are talented and famous are often poor and depressed, which is a praise for Cao Ba’s fame, sympathy for his life, but also a support for his own frustration, and abhorrence of the feudal society.
This poem is a poem with a long and dramatic pen and ink, highly praised Cao Ba’s “portrait” talent and “painting horse” skills, and the reality of the bleak and the immediate exile in contrast to the vivid description of the image through the expression of grief and indignation, sent the poet on the feudal society to destroy the talents of the indignation! The whole poem emphasizes comparison and contrast! The whole poem is heavy contrast, in the fullness of the pen and ink at the time of the ripples, the first glory after the withering of the situation is suddenly depressed feelings.
Poem translator:
Kiang Kanghu
About the poet:
Du Fu (杜甫), 712 – 770 AD, was a great poet of the Tang Dynasty, known as the “Sage of Poetry”. Born into a declining bureaucratic family, Du Fu had a rough life, and his turbulent and dislocated life made him keenly aware of the plight of the masses. Therefore, his poems were always closely related to the current affairs, reflecting the social life of that era in a more comprehensive way, with profound thoughts and a broad realm. In his poetic art, he was able to combine many styles, forming a unique style of “profound and thick”, and becoming a great realist poet in the history of China.
