The Mystery of "Espionage Paintings" in the Court Paintings of the Southern Song Dynasty
The author has identified some military paintings from a large number of albums of the Song Dynastybased on related historic documents of the same period. As recorded in historic texts, some court painters goodat painting landscape, figure and horse once lay hidden among the diplomatic missions of the Southern Songgovernment to the State Jin. These painters were ordered to record the topography of the State Jin and themilitary activities of the Nuzhen people. Therefore the author classified these paintings of military importancein the court paintings of the Southern Song Dynasty as "espionage paintings". This article presents the historyof "espionage paintings" development and probes the political and military background when the "espionagepaintings" appeared in the Southern Song Dynasty. After a detailed study of these paintings, the authorconcludes that Yuwen Xuzhong, Xiao Zhao and Chen Juzhong are supposed to be painters of "espionagepaintings" of the Southern Song Dynasty. This is the first time to study some court paintings from military angle.