Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00009432River Village in a Rainstorm
by Lu Wenying
About the Artwork
In this scene, windswept rain pelting a village captures the power of nature in a masterful composition. Lü Wenying from Zhejiang served as a court painter during the Hongzhi era (1488–1505). Hardly known, with few remaining works, he is considered a Zhe school painter who followed the style of the Southern Song academy. Zhe school painters, named after the province of Zhejiang, transformed the poetic scenery of the Southern Song artists into dramatic, large-scale views. Active in the same region with frequent monsoon rains in the summer season, artists were familiar with outbreaks of rain and storms.
Inscriptions
呂文英 [印] 日近清光
Provenance
?-1970: (Kinzen Company, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) 1970-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Year in Review: 1970. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 10-March 7, 1971). Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (November 7, 1980-January 4, 1981); The Cleveland Museum of Art (February 11-March 29, 1981); Tokyo National Museum (October 4-November 17, 1982); The Asia Society Museum, New York, NY (December 3, 1982-February 28, 1983). Highlights of Asian Paintings from The Cleveland Museum of Art. Nara National Museum (organizer) (February 21-March 29, 1998); Suntory Museum of Art (April 28-June 21, 1998). Admired from Afar: Masterworks of Japanese Painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, Japan (January 15-February 23, 2014); Kyushu National Museum, Fukuoka, Japan (July 8-August 31, 2014). Ji Yun-Fei: Last Days of Village Wen. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 12-July 31, 2016). China’s Southern Paradise: Treasures from the Lower Yangzi Delta. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 10, 2023-January 7, 2024).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Lu Wenying (Chinese)
- Date
- c. 1480–1507
- Medium
- Hanging scroll; ink and slight color on silk
- Dimensions
- Painting: 170.5 x 103.4 cm (67 1/8 x 40 11/16 in.); Overall with knobs: 279.6 x 134.3 cm (110 1/16 x 52 7/8 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- Chinese Art
- Credit line
- John L. Severance Fund
- Accession no.
- 1970.76
Open-access museum record · AT-00009432
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