Wen Cheng-ming, a native of Soochow, was gifted at all the scholarly arts of poetry, prose, calligraphy and painting. A student of Shen Chou, he became one of the Four Great Masters of the Ming. The old trunks of cypress trees twist and turn at the bottom of the painting as a pine tree grows straight upward behind, with the two trunks shown as equally erect. A stone cliff like a curtain fills the background, dense and unbroken, with seemingly no space to spare. From some place far above the waterfall is a cascade that unifies the center of the composition. This work was painted in 1549 at the age of 79.
Wen Cheng-ming, a native of Soochow, was gifted in poetry, prose, painting, and calligraphy. He was known as one of the Four Masters of the Ming. Pines and cedars grow next to each other here. Two pines at the left crisscross as they emerge from the bottom up almost to the top. The two trunks extend with a force penetrating to the heavens. The old trunks of the cedars are draped with numerous craggy branches twisting all over the bottom half of the work. The brush and ink is elegant and free yet mature and substantial. The scenery is dense to the point that almost no space exists, and above is a lone waterfall for a dramatic touch. This kind of painting done by Wen at the lofty age of 80 with such energy and vitality is indeed truly impressive.