Shen Hao

• Shen Hao, also known as Hao, had the courtesy name Langqian and the sobriquet Shitian. He was from Wuxian (present-day Suzhou, Jiangsu) and held the title of Assistant Doctorate Disciple. He was bold, curious, and skilled in poetry and prose. In calligraphy, he excelled in regular, cursive, clerical, and seal scripts, mastering all forms. His landscape paintings were influenced by Shen Zhou, but in his later years, his brushwork became elegant and refined, with delicate and clear use of color, showing profound understanding of painting principles. His approach of “resembling yet not resembling, not resembling yet resembling” was his original insight.