An Old Man Walking by a Stream, with Distant Mountains, 1706 (ink & colour on...

Wu Li, an acclaimed Qing dynasty painter, expressed himself through the styles of a select lineage of past artists. Here, sparse trees and an empty pavilion allude to Ni Zan (1301–1374), but Wu Li has reworked the dry, sketchy style of the Yuan dynasty master by incorporating loose, moist brushstrokes to create a richer tonality. Wu Li’s reinterpretation may have been influenced by an increasing awareness of Western artistic techniques, such as chiaroscuro and one-point perspective. Wu Li converted to Christianity in the 1670s, allowing him close contact with the missionaries who brought new images and skills to China from the West.