Li Si-kun

A Chinese painter of the Tang Dynasty. He was from the Tang Dynasty Imperial Court and was the uncle of Li Linfu, the prime minister of the Xuanzong Dynasty. He became the governor of Jiangdu during the reign of Emperor Gaozong, and left his post for a time, but after Emperor Zhongzong was restored to his throne, he served as Chief Clerk of Yizhou, Left General of the Wu Linlin, and Grand General of the Right Guard. He excelled in calligraphy and painting from a young age, and along with Wu Daoxuan and Wang Wei, he is one of the leading painters of the early and prosperous Tang Dynasty. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, he was considered the founder of Northern Zong painting, and his landscape paintings were said to be the best in the country. His son Li Zhaodao was also a skilled painter, and was praised as the Great General Li and the Little General Li, in the same breath as father and son. Zhang Yanyuan, a calligraphy and painting critic of the same era, commented that "the change in landscape painting began with Wu (Dao Xuan) and continued with the second Li," but in contrast to Wu Daoxuan's free-spirited style of painting, Li's style was extremely precise and detailed.

[Rei Yoshimura]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、唐代の画家。唐の宗室の出身で、玄宗朝の宰相李林甫(りりんぽ)の伯父にあたる。高宗朝に江都令となり、一時官を去ったが、中宗復位ののち、益州(えきしゅう)長史、左羽林将軍、右武衛大将軍を歴任した。若年より書画に優れ、呉道玄、王維とともに初・盛唐を代表する画家で、明(みん)末には北宗(ほくしゅう)画の祖とされ、山水画は国朝第一といわれた。子の李昭道(りしょうどう)もまた画(え)をよくし、大李将軍、小李将軍と父子並び称されている。同代の書画論家張彦遠(ちょうげんえん)は「山水の変は呉（道玄）に始まり、二李に成る」と評したが、呉道玄の自由奔放な画風とは対照的で、きわめて精緻(せいち)な細密画的作風だったらしい。

［吉村　怜］

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