What are the characteristics of the Northern Wei murals in Maijishan Grottoes?

The composition of the murals in the Northern Wei Dynasty in the cave is open and closed, magnificent and lifelike. More than 400 people are painted on the mural of Dakaiyue 19 square meter. Some of them galloped, some followed, some seemed to be guards, and some fought with swords and shields. At the closing ceremony, people gathered around Sakyamuni, who was lying on his back on the bed of Qibao, dying.

It is particularly worth mentioning that on the stone-green covered ground, the author draws a picture of a person with freehand brushwork, holding a knife in his right hand and a shield in his left hand, leaning forward and stabbing the other person's chest with all his strength; The other man dodged sideways with a shield and raised his knife to cut the other person's shoulder.

In addition, there is a man riding on horseback, holding a sword, as if to guide the advance and retreat of foot soldiers and chariots, and as if to reprimand the foot soldiers for not being brave enough. Only a few people with pure stone green and dull faces stood behind the dying Sakyamuni like zombies, seemingly helpless in the face of everything in front of them.

On the lower left of Sakyamuni, less than 1 square meter, the author painted more than 60 people on three floors. Some of them raised shields to meet the enemy, some attacked with spears, and some waved flags with both hands, overlapping and orderly. The open space above the shoulders of the characters seems to be a horse race; The pen and ink from shoulder to toe are so dense that it seems difficult to breathe.

Some costumes in murals are summarized by long lines, and some are painted with black or stone-green heavy pens first, and then edged with white fine pens. In murals, the joy, anger, sadness and joy of the characters are well expressed by the author. I can't help but think of Gu Kaizhi's Four-Body Beauty, which has nothing to do with beauty; Vivid portrayal of the immortal conclusion of being banned.

When drawing these characters, the author first uses stone green as the background color, then covers them with gray, then dyes their faces with deep purple, and finally marks the five senses with white. The infiltration and oxidation between several pigments not only enhances the heavy feeling of the face of the characters, but also prevents the murals from being damp due to age.

The strong gold thread, the twists and turns of brushwork, the modeling of trees, and the application of stone green pigments in murals are all reflected in Gu Kaizhi's Ode to Luoshen, the silk painting Couples Banquet in Han Dynasty, and the mural Flying in Eastern Jin Dynasty.

The murals in the whole cave are like a cartoon painted on the wall, chapter by chapter, closely connected, telling people the stories that happened in that era. The most amazing thing is that the author's skills in dealing with birds and animals such as tigers and pheasants are superb and wonderful.