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Paintings after Ancient Masters: Scholar Reading in a Thatched Hut by a Waterfall

Chen Hongshou (Chinese, 1598/99–1652), 1598–1652.

Paintings after Ancient Masters: Scholar Reading in a Thatched Hut by a Waterfall
Paintings after Ancient Masters: Scholar Reading in a Thatched Hut by a Waterfall — Cleveland Museum of Art

Using it on a cover

The print file prints up to 10 x 11.3 in at 300 ppi — enough for a full 6 x 9 in front cover. Wider than a 6 x 9 cover: crop about 25% of the width, or use it as a wraparound across back and spine.

About the work

The twenty paintings in this double-album by Chen Hongshou include landscapes, figures, and flowers. It also has one leaf featuring a woman, an often-used subject not found in the other albums from the latter part of his career. His late works are wonderful summations of Chen's peculiar and quirky art--archaistic, hyper-refined--but without accompanying shallowness or sentimentality. His figures and landscapes in the late albums are miniaturized, not unlike the small Chinese gardens, or the carefully selected small table rocks or old roots used for contemplation to see the world in miniature.

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