In Tung's opinion, painters had all the models they needed in the work of preceding centuries. He was most heavily influenced by the old Yuan Dynasty masters and he quoted one ancient painter to the effect that while the painter holds the living world in his hand, "those who paint in a very fine (or detailed) manner make themselves servants of Nature" (qtd. by Siren 136). The observation of nature in Chinese art was not centered on the reproduction of the actual appearances of things in terms of their color, or texture, or "the corporeality of mass" (Cahill, Chinese 11). Instead Chinese painting had always been based on the use of the line to delineate boundaries and the brush stroke remained central to the art for centuries. European painting had also begun with the delineation of boundaries but its character changed as painters "turned their attention from the outlines to what they enclosed, concentrating on the rendition of light and shadow, mass and texture, softening or obscuring contours and so lessening the importance of line" (Cahill, Chinese 11). The masters who assimilated European influences worked them into the prevailing line-based art of China. These influences, consisting of the adoption of new angles for the grounds of their painting, an interest in perspective in landscape, and a new attention to the use of shading and creation of a few rounde
...