Xu Xi
Lifelike ink-wash nature paintings
Xu Xi(徐熙) was an outstanding painter of the Southern Tang during the Five Dynasties period, from Jinling (today's Nanjing), though some say he was from Zhongling (today's Jinxian, Jiangxi). He came from a well-known family in Jiangnan. He was born during Emperor Xizong of Tang's Guangqi era and later, at the end of the Kaibao era (975), went with Emperor Li Houzhu to the Song Dynasty, but died not long afterward. He never held an official position. Guo Ruoxu called him a “retired scholar from Jiangnan,” and Shen Kuo described him as a “commoner from Jiangnan.” He was straightforward and open-minded, with noble ambitions. He excelled at painting flowers, bamboo, forests, cicadas, butterflies, grasses, and insects, capturing nature so perfectly that his work seemed indistinguishable from the real thing.