
Landscape and Figure, from an album of Landscapes and Calligraphy for Liu Songfu
Xugu · Qing dynasty (1644–1911), 1895/96
- Medium
- Album of 25 leaves; ink and light color on paper
- Original size
- Each leaf: 30.5 × 36.3 cm (12 × 14 1/4 in.)
- Currently held
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Movement
- Impressionism
This intimate album leaf captures the spare poetry of late Qing landscape painting — a lone figure set against an open expanse of ink wash and restrained color, breathing with the kind of silence only a master can achieve. Xugu, born Zhu Huairen in 1823, was a Buddhist monk who spent much of his life in Shanghai, where he became one of the most distinctive voices of the Shanghai School. Where his contemporaries often worked with dense, decorative energy, Xugu favored economy — a few well-placed strokes of ink, the subtlest blush of color, and a composition that trusts empty space as much as what fills it. This album, completed for Liu Songfu in 1895 or 1896, was among the last major works of his life, carrying a quiet reflectiveness that feels wholly earned. Xugu was notably reluctant to sell his paintings, preferring to give them as gifts to friends and those he respected — a fact that makes surviving examples of his work feel especially personal. The hand-painted oil reproduction translates Xugu's delicate ink-and-color palette into the richer medium of oil, preserving the composition's meditative stillness while giving it a presence and warmth suited to display on any wall.
Hand-painted oil reproduction
Painted in real oil on stretched canvas by master copyists. Delivered unframed — ready to frame at home.
Choose a size
In Xugu's style.
Send us a photograph of your family, pet, or home — we'll paint it as a custom oil on stretched canvas in any style you like. From £220.

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Xugu · Qing dynasty (1644–1911), 1897

Calligraphy Accompanying Xugu's Painting
Xugu · Qing dynasty (1644–1911), 1897

Album of Landscapes and Calligraphy for Liu Songfu
Xugu · Qing dynasty (1644–1911), 1895/96


