Not a Buddhist subject, but:
I’m teaching Xie He’s Six Laws of Painting this week and went back to the original for a refresher. I had forgotten how excellently snarky he is about the painters he rates lower than the top grade. We do a special focus on Gu Kaizhi because several surviving paintings are ascribed to him (almost certainly incorrectly, but oh well), so now I want a t-shirt with Xie He’s critique of Gu’s work: 聲過其實 “Reputation exceeds the reality.”
A few other memorable ones:
Mao Huiyuan 頗有拙也 “Somewhat awkward”
Jiang Sengbao: 像人之外，非其所長也 “Subjects other than figure paintings are not his forte”
Wu Dong 擅美當年，有聲京洛 “He mastered the aesthetics of his time, and was known in the capital” (way to damn with faint praise)
Liu Shaozu 述而不作，非畫所先 “All talk and no work, therefore not a leader among painters”
Medieval Buddhist of the Day 
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