T'ANG YIN

born 1470, Su-chou, Kiangsu province, China died 1523 Chinese scholar, painter, and poet of the Ming period whose life story has become a part of popular lore. T'ang Yin was a pupil of the great Shen Chou, a friend of Wen Cheng-ming, and was aided by the latter's father, Wen Lin. T'ang Yin came from a mercantile background and excelled in his studies. He was accused, perhaps unfairly, of cheating in the provincial examinations that would have guaranteed him the security of a government sinecure and comfort for the cultivation of scholarly pursuits. Denied further official progress, he pursued a life of pleasure and earned a living by selling his paintings. That mode of living brought him into disrepute with a later generation of artist-critics (for example, Tung Ch'i-ch'ang) who felt that financial independence was vital to enable an artist to follow his own style and inspiration. While T'ang Yin is associated with paintings of feminine beauty, his paintings (especially landscapes) otherwise exhibit much the same variety and expression of his peers, which suggest a man of both artistic skill and profound insight.