Lin Liang
Founded Ming expressive ink bird-and-flower style
Lin Liang(林良) (c. 1428–1494), courtesy name Yishan(以善), was from Funan Fort, Nanhai County, Guangzhou Prefecture, Guangdong (now Shangcun, Qicha Community, Dali Town, Nanhai District, Foshan City). He was a court painter during the Ming Dynasty. He served as the Assistant Director of the Ministry of Works, a commander in the Jinyiwei, and a local governor, and he was also an attendant at the Renzhi Hall. He was the first painter from Guangdong to enter the mainstream art scene. As a young man, Lin Liang learned painting while working for the Guangdong regional government, studying under Yan Zong and He Yin. Historical records mention that “Lin Liang and Lü Ji are unmatched in the world,” and later he was recommended to the imperial court. His painting combined meticulous color work and expressive ink techniques—his fine brushwork inherited the Southern Song academy style, while his ink sketches incorporated cursive brush techniques into academy painting, creating a new style of bird-and-flower paintings that was both vigorous and simple, balancing motion and stillness. He often painted wild birds and barren landscapes. His representative works include "Birds Among Shrubs," "Camellia with White Feathers," "Birds in Autumn Forest," and "Two Eagles," totaling 103 masterpieces now housed in the Palace Museum in Beijing and the Guangdong Provincial Museum, with more than ten works recorded in the Qing dynasty's "Shiqu Baoji" and "Archives of the Qing Imperial Household." His ink techniques directly influenced painters such as Shen Zhou, Xu Wei, and the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou, founding the Ming Dynasty ink expressive painting school and significantly impacting court, professional, and literati painters alike.