Wang Juzheng
Meticulous Song dynasty figure painter
Wang Juzheng(王居正) (birth and death years unknown) was a painter from the Northern Song Dynasty. His childhood name was Hange(憨哥), and he was from Hedong (today’s Yongji, Shanxi). His father, Wang Zhuo(王拙), was also skilled in painting, and both father and son became famous in the art world during Emperor Zhenzong’s Dazhong Xiangfu period. He learned from Zhou Fang(周昉) and specialized in painting ladies, capturing their leisurely elegance. Guo Ruoxu commented on his style, saying it was "too meticulous, but lacked spirit." Wang Juzheng liked to watch people from high vantage points in gardens and temples, carefully observing their postures before painting, and he would clear his mind to ensure both form and spirit were captured. One of his surviving works, "Spinning Wheel Painting," depicts rural women working outdoors, including a nursing mother, a child playing with a frog, and an old woman pulling a line. It's painted on silk and measures 26.1 cm tall by 69.2 cm wide. It was previously in the collections of Zhao Mengfu and Zhang Daqian and is now housed in the Palace Museum in Beijing. His "Gentlemen and Ladies Adjusting a Parrot" fan is in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and another work, "Green Window and Softer Rain," is recorded in the book *Hui Shi Bei Kao*.