Zhou Chen : the life and paintings of a Ming professional artist

Abstract: Zhou Chen played a major role in the development of professional painting in Suzhou during middle Ming. The thesis presents Zhou’s biography, focussing on his relations to his contemporaries and on the conditions of professional artists in general.The discussion of Zhou's painting begins with a classification of his extant paintings in order to trace his stylistic heritage and to assess the impact of contemporary painting on his art. A major question in middle Ming art history has been whether the works by the Suzhou professionals should be classified with the Zhe-school or the Wu-school, or whether they represent an independent style under the name of ”Yuanti”. The thesis argues that although there was a strong influence from the Zhe-school, most notably in the paintings by Zhou, the works by the Suzhou professionals represent a style apart from that of the Zhe-masters: they have a different stylistic heritage and subsequently demonstrate differences in brushwork and colouring. The thesis likewise contends that the brushwork and the lack of a systematic modal approach set the Suzhou professionals clearly apart from the Wu-school painters. The conclusion that the works by the Suzhoj professionals represent an independent style is supported by an analysis of Zhou’s iconography, which demonstrates significant differences from that of the Wu-school.The authenticity and iconography of the individual paintings attributed to Zhou Chen are discussed in the catalogue.