Gu Zhengyi(顾正谊)

Gu Zhengyi(顾正谊) (lifespan: unknown), Chinese, Ming Dynasty (1368–1644), styled Zhongfang and nicknamed Tinglin, was a Ming dynasty painter, poet, and art theorist from Huating (modern Shanghai). Born into an official family, he served as a mid-ranking bureaucrat (zhongshu sheren) under imperial patronage. A leading figure of the Huating School, he revolutionized landscape painting by synthesizing styles of Yuan masters like Huang Gongwang and Wu Zhen, creating layered, misty mountains with distinctive "square peaks" and sparse foliage. His works, such as Autumn Scenery by the Stream (1575) and Tianchi Rocky Cliffs (1596), exemplify his fusion of poetic minimalism and technical precision. A mentor to Dong Qichang, he amassed a famed collection of Yuan paintings, profoundly influencing late-Ming literati art. Retiring to his riverside estate Zhuojin Garden, he left enduring treatises like Tinglin Anthology.