Li Sizhen

CHINA; Tang dynasty

Li Sizhen, also known as Chengzhou. He was a painter and art critic said to be from either Kuangcheng, Huazhou (present day Changyuan, Xinxiang) or Bai, Zhaozhou (present day Baixiang, Hebei). In addition to working as an artist, Li served in various positions in the imperial court.
Li was dept in illustrating Buddhist and Daoist figures and often produced written works as an art critic, which included New Culture of the Palace, Poetry Appreciation, New Classification of Ancient Calligraphers, and New Classification of Ancient Painters.
New Classification of Ancient Calligraphers was a text on calligraphy theory that greatly influenced the Chinese art form. The book analyzed and provided a critique of 81 famous calligraphers who emerged after the publication of Classification of Ancient Painters by Xie Hao and classified them within 10 different ranks. The original book no longer exists, but some entries, which were re-recorded in Famous Paintings in History, have survived. During the Late Tang period (846–907), Zhang Yanyuan included it in his publication, Principles of Calligraphy.