A Study on the Representation of the Romance of the Western Chamber in Chinese Painting

This thesis studies the representation of The Romance of the Western Chamber in painting. In the process of examination, a close relationship and parallel development between the different forms of literary writing from which the play was originated, and changing methods of representation in visual art was discerned. In literature, this story was originated from the fiction written in prose form in the Tang dynasty, developed into texts for story telling in the Song dynasty, and finalized in dramatic form in the Yuan dynasty. In comparison, the earliest subject for the representation of this story in painting is the portrait of Yingying. This painting can be dated as early as the Song dynasty, and has been copied, with variations, by many well-known painters of the later dynasties. Also, in the Song dynasty, paintings illustrating the text of this story came into existence. In the Yuan dynasty, the serializing method of illustration became popular and is still practiced today. It is believed that the ancient custom of using paintings in the ceremony of narrating popular stories to the public is the origin of the representation of this story in paintings. During the Ming dynasty, several celebrated painters executed paintings on this subject. Styles of their painting have influenced the woodblock print illustrations of this drama. On the contrary, in the Qing dynasty the opposite was true, paintings were influenced by the woodblock prints of the same subject. This phenomenon demonstrates the mutual influence and interaction between highbrow and lowbrow culture through Chinese history.