61. An Ode to a Painting: Given to General Cao Ba

A poem by Du Fu, translated by Hyun Woo Kim

The general, who is descended from Wu of Wei,

Has now become a commoner, to make his family pure.

Though the heroes no longer divide and occupy lands,

The writing and the fine tastes remain the same today.

At first, he learned calligraphy from Madame Wei;

Still, he regretted that he could not surpass General-to-the-Right Wang.

"Paintings do not know the arrival of old age;

To be rich and powerful is like floating clouds to me."

Around the Kaiyuan era, he was always summoned,

Receiving the royal favor, many times climbing to the Nanxun Hall.

The faces of meritorious subjects at Lingyan had discolored;

The general lowered his brush, and lively faces opened up.

Jinxian Headdresses on the heads of kind ministers;

Dayu Arrows between the waists of courageous generals.

Lord Bao and Lord E's hair moved:

Their mettle heroic and manly, as if in the middle of a war.

The preceding emperor's heavenly horse, Yuhua, olive and white,

Could not be drawn the same, despite a mountain of painters.

On that day, it was brought to the foot of crimson stairs;

It stood up high at the palace gate, and a long wind blew.

The general was ordered to unroll the white silk;

He contemplated in the middle of his design, with the will of an artisan.

Soon, in the deep of the palace, appeared a fine horse,

Washing away ordinary horses of all times to naught.

Yuhua retreated on the top of the Royal Tower:

On the tower and in front of the yard, standing still and facing each other.

His Highness, chuckling, urged to bestow gold;

All the royal horsebreeders and charioteers were disappointed.

The apprentice, Han Gan, has been skilled since early,

And can paint extremely many forms of horses.

Han, nevertheless, paints only the flesh and does not paint the bones,

Which makes fine horses suffer the loss of their energy.

The general's good painting has a spirit on the whole:

Faced with a beautiful gentleman, it will even trace the true self.

At this moment, it roves between shields and spears,

Frequently depicting ordinary people on the road.

Painfully destitute, you are disregarded in return by the vulgar;

My Lord, in this world, there is no one as poor as you!

I see that since ancient times, under the grand fame,

One's body is embroidered by frustration all day.

「丹靑引贈曹霸將軍」

將軍魏武之子孫

於今為庶為淸門

英雄割據雖已矣

文采風流今尚存

學書初學衛夫人

但恨無過王右軍

丹青不知老將至

富貴於我如浮雲

開元之中常引見

承恩數上南熏殿

凌煙功臣少顏色

將軍下筆開生面

良相頭上進賢冠

猛將腰間大羽箭

褒公鄂公毛髮動

英姿颯爽猶酣戰

先帝天馬玉花驄

畫工如山貌不同

是日牽來赤墀下

迥立閶闔生長風

詔謂將軍拂絹素

意匠慘淡經營中

斯須九重真龍出

一洗萬古凡馬空

玉花卻在御榻上

榻上庭前屹相向

至尊含笑催賜金

圉人太僕皆惆悵

弟子韓幹早入室

亦能畫馬窮殊相

幹惟畫肉不畫骨

忍使驊騮氣凋䘮

將軍善畫蓋有神

必逢佳士亦冩真

即今漂泊干戈際

屢貌尋常行路人

塗窮反遭俗眼白

世上未有如公貧

但看古來盛名下

終日坎壈纏其身

From Hyun Woo:

Remember last week’s poem that mentioned a General Cao? Today’s poem deals with him again, and we can infer that it was actually addressed to him. Last week, I did some research on General Cao Ba. I was curious because even though Du Fu calls him a general, he does not sound like a general at all in Du Fu’s poems. It turns out Cao Ba was a former general, who had been made a commoner as a punishment for a certain criminal act. He could have done something very wrong, but it is also likely that he just did something that annoyed the emperor and nothing more than that.

Anyhow, presuming that you read last week’s newsletter, we already know that Cao Ba is very talented at painting horses. On top of his extraordinary talent, he is, of course, a general, and also a descendant of “Wu of Wei”, a king better known as Cao Cao who occupied a third of China a few centuries ago. Still, Cao Ba is just a “commoner” now, even though Du Fu still addresses him as “General Cao”.

Cao Ba’s real passion must have been art, not his military career. He was very ambitious in that “he regretted that he could not surpass General-to-the-Right Wang” in calligraphy. “General-to-the-Right Wang” refers to Wang Xizhi, and he is still the best renowned Chinese calligrapher to this day. Cao Ba once even said “to be rich and powerful is like floating clouds to me.” All he cared about was art.

In his heyday, he painted portraits at “Lingyan”, and even painted “Yuhua”, the emperor’s horse, which no other painter could depict well enough. When Cao Ba finished the painting of Yuhua, it looked as if there were two same horses, “standing still and facing each other”. His apprentice, “Han Gan”, also painted horses well, but not as well as his master.

Nevertheless, the art of Cao Ba now “roves between shields and spears”. Cao Ba is a commoner, and the Tang Empire is being torn apart in the middle of a civil war. Unlike the past when he painted famous horses in the palace, Cao Ba now paints “ordinary people on the road”, only to be “disregarded in return by the vulgar”. Looking at this terrible fate of the artist, Du Fu exclaims: “My Lord, in this world, there is no one as poor as you!” Would Cao Ba still think that being rich and powerful means nothing, like “floating clouds”? The poet, without giving us the answer, leaves us wondering.

If you enjoyed my work, you can buy me a cup of tea. I am not a coffee person, by the way.