Diao Guangyin

CHINA, Shaanxi, Xi’an; Tang dynasty to Five Dynasties

Diao Guangyin was a painter born in Chang’an (present day Xi’an, Shaanxi). To escape the turmoil during the late Tang dynasty (618–907), he escaped to Shu (present day Sichuan) and lived there for over 30 years.
Diao was a very assiduous painter, often working without rest unless he was very sick or of old age. He once painted a mural of the flowers and birds of the four seasons on the walls of Daci Temple in Sichuan; in his later years, he painted two more murals of flowers and birds.
Xuanhe Catalog of Paintings recorded 24 paintings by Diao, including Cats Playing Around Bamboos and Rocks, Flowers and Fowls, and Lotus and Water Birds. One of his paintings, Five Sheep Beneath Withered Old Trees, is kept in the National Palace Museum in Taipei, Taiwan.