Zhao Yong

CHINA, Zhejiang, Hangzhou; Yuan dynasty

Zhao Yong, also known as Zhongmu, was the second son of the famed artist Zhao Mengfu. He was a calligrapher and painter who also served in the imperial government as a scholar and vice governor. Among his written works is Bequeathed Drafts of Zhao Daizhi.
Having inherited his family skills in calligraphy and painting, Zhao excelled in both, in addition to poetry and art appreciation. He was skilled in regular, cursive, running, and seal script calligraphy that exhibited clear and strong features. His father began transcribing a copy of the Diamond Sutra for Huanzhu Temple, but passed away before he was finished; Zhao finished the work and many who viewed it could not differentiate his writing from his father’s. His landscape painting style was modeled after that of Dong Yuan, and his proficiency in orchid and bamboo drawings were inherited from his mother, Guan Daosheng. He also specialized in painting figures and saddled horses, which he modeled after the works of Tang dynasty (618–907), acquiring the spirit of Cao Ba’s pieces.
Aside from a painting of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, Zhao’s extant works are abundant and are kept at various museums around the world. For example, Orchids and Bamboos, and two others are kept at the Shanghai Museum; Chan Master Gaofeng Yuanmiao is kept at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, USA; and many others are kept at the National Palace Museum in Taipei, Taiwan; the Palace Museum in Beijing; the Liaoning Provincial Museum in Shenyang; and the Cleveland Museum of Art in Ohio, USA. His calligraphic works include Poems on the Pure Land and Thousand Character Classic, both of which are kept at the National Palace Museum in Taipei, Taiwan.