Quick Facts
Biography
Ren Renfa (simplified Chinese: 任仁发; traditional Chinese: 任仁發; pinyin: Rèn Rénfā; Wade–Giles: Jen Jen-fa) (1254–1327), courtesy name Ziming (子明), pseudonym Yueshan Daoren (月山道人; lit. "Taoist on the Moon Mountain"), was an expert of irrigation works, artist, and a government official during the Yuan dynasty. He was born in Qinglong Town, Songjiang (松江青龙镇 - present day Qingpu District, Shanghai).
Ren drew some outstanding paintings of horses, people, flowers and birds. His style is similar to the artists of the Tang dynasty (608–907) and Li Gongling in the Song dynasty (1127–1279). His paintings of horses are comparable to those by Zhao Mengfu.
Ren's hydrological works include dredging the area in what is now Beijing to improve the water supply and leading a team to build embankments after the Yellow River burst its banks.
Chu Yu Ti
A prominent work of his is Chu Yu Tu (出圉图 - A Painting of Leading Horses out of Stable); on silk, with color, height 32.4 cm, width 201.9 cm, currently in a collection of The Palace Museum, Beijing.
In this painting, three officials of the royal stables are leading four horses out the stable. The painting has a very explicit Tang style. The people in the painting are dressed in Tang style costumes. All these reflect that the artist admired the culture of the Tang dynasty. The people and horses are spread out in the painting, which is a main characteristic of paintings by Ren.
At the end of the painting (left side), there are some words about the artist and the year of painting. "ZhiYuan GengCheng ChunWang San Ri (The third day in the second month of spring, 1280), Zuo ChuYu Tu Yu KeShi Tang (Draw "A Painting of Leading Horses out of Stable" at KeShi Tang—a room for poem), YueShan Ren ZiMing Ji (YueShan—Moon Mountain, Ren ZiMing—a courtesy name of the artist)". There is a poem written by the Qianlong Emperor (Qing dynasty, 1736—1795), who also wrote some hand writings in the middle of the painting. This is one of the earliest works of Ren (and the earliest one of his that exists), and was drawn in 1280 when he was 27.
