Han Gan

In this Chinese name, the family name is Han.

Han Gan (simplified Chinese: 韩干; traditional Chinese: 韓幹) (c. 706–783) was a Chinese painter during the Tang dynasty. [1]

Man herding horses
Night-Shining White, portrait of a favorite steed of Emperor Xuanzong
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Han Gan.

He came from a poor family in either Chang'an, modern-day Xi'an, Shaanxi; Lantian, modern-day Shaanxi; or Daliang, modern-day Kaifeng, Henan. As a young man, Han Gan was recognized by Wang Wei, a prominent poet, who sponsored Han in learning arts. Han became a student of Cao Ba, a court painter.[2] After his studies, Han became a painter in the Tang court.

Han painted many portraits and Buddhistic and Daoist themed paintings during his career; however, he is most widely remembered for his paintings of horses.[1] He was reputed to have "learned from the horses in the imperial stables"[3] and to be able to not only portray the physical body of the horse, but also its spirit. His reputation rose and surpassed that of his teacher. Horse painters of later generations studied Han.

The horse as a central subject was continued by Li Gonglin of the Song Dynasty. [1]

He is honored with a crater named for him on Mercury.[4]

  1. ^ a b c "Han Gan | Tang Dynasty, Court Painter, Horses | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2023-11-23.
  2. ^ "Han Gan: A Master Painter of Horses - China culture". Archived from the original on 2013-01-11. Retrieved 2013-06-26.
  3. ^ James Cahill. The Painter's Practice: How Artists Lived and Worked in Traditional China, New York: Columbia University Press, 1994. p. 98.
  4. ^ T.J. Mahoney (18 November 2013). Mercury. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 71. ISBN 978-1-4614-7951-2.