On Portraiture: On a Portrait by Li Fang

COOL POEMS: Introduction > THE POEMS

Topic: On Portraiture

Author: Bai Juyi (772-846)

On a Portrait by Li Fang

A man can’t recognize himself,
So Li Fang has painted my portrait.
Quietly observing me, body and soul,
All in all it looks like a mountain man.
Living among wild willows, he’s apt to get senile.
With a heart like a wild elk, he is hard to tame.
How did this man end up in court,
Serving as officer for five long years?
All the more reason he’s tough and mulish,
How should he mix with the herd?
It isn’t just that he lacks a noble mien,
One fears he might bring calamity upon himself.
Better to forsake public life early,
And keep to his misty mountain-spring self.

Comments: Li Fang painted Bai Juyi’s portrait and Bai takes this as an excuse to draw a literary portrait of himself without seeming immodest. The first line suggests that we cannot see ourselves objectively, but the artist can make his own assessment of the sitter’s personality and appearance, and records these as he sees fit. Bai therefore attributes to the portrait artist a level of agency we normally associate with late, early modern times. Clearly Bai likes the characterization he sees in the painting, where he comes off as “wild,” “hard to tame,” or “tough and mulish,” not one to “mix with the herd,” in other words, as a rugged individual. As an individual, he doesn’t sit well as a bureaucratic functionary, and so thinks it may be better to retire early, forsaking public life.

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