Luo Mu

• Luo Mu (羅牧), styled Fanniu (飯牛) and also known by his artistic names Yun'an (雲庵), Muxingzhe (牧行者), and Zhuxi (竹溪), was a native of Diaofeng, Ningdu County, Jiangxi Province. He excelled in calligraphy and painting, having been influenced by the Weishu (魏書) tradition of stone carving and inheriting the painting styles of Huang Gongwang and Dong Qichang. Luo Mu's works are celebrated for their ethereal brushwork and vivid depictions of forests and valleys, earning him recognition as a "genius of the Jiangxi school." His influence was profound among painters in the Jianghuai region. Renowned as a pioneering landscape painter of the Jiangxi school, Luo Mu was praised by the "Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou" as a "master of his era" and a "talent of the Jiangxi painting school." His paintings were appreciated by Emperor Kangxi and honored as "masterpieces of the exceptional class."