初师尹继昭，后刻苦不倦，执学吴道子。长于楼观殿字、盘车水磨，能按比例"折算无差"，透视正确，构图严谨，刻画精细，无俗匠气，见胜于时，被称为唐五代第一能手。兼工山水、高崖巨石，浑厚凝重而皴法不老。尝作《春江钓叟图》，李煜为其题《渔父词》二首:"阆苑有意千重雪，桃李无言一队春。一壶酒，一竿鳞，快活如侬有几人。""一棹春风一叶舟，一纶茧缕一轻钩。花满渚，酒盈瓯，万顷波中得自由。"《宣和画谱》著录御府所藏其作品有《闸口盘车图》《雪宫图》《渡水罗汉像图》《蜀道图》《神仙事迹图》等25件。传世作品有《高士图》轴，绢本，淡设色，纵135厘米，横52.5厘米，画东汉梁鸿、孟光夫妇"相敬如宾，举案齐眉"之故事，全图山石浑厚，树木茂密，干笔点苔，皴染精到，结构严谨，具有较高艺术价值。前隔水有赵佶书"卫贤高士图"五字，幅上有清乾隆帝题记，现藏故宫博物院;《闸口盘车图》卷(传)，藏上海博物馆。

 《高士图》卷，五代，卫贤作，绢本，设色，纵134.5cm，横52.5cm。

　　本幅无款识，卷前有宋徽宗赵佶瘦金书标题“衛賢高士圖”，虽为立幅，但装裱成手卷形式，是北宋内府“宣和装”。

　　描绘汉代隐士梁鸿与妻孟光“相敬如宾，举案齐眉”的故事。画家把梁鸿的居所安排在山环水绕的大自然中，全幅上半部为巨峰壁立，远山苍茫，下半部为竹树蓊郁，溪水潺潺。人物活动在画面中部，恰是观者的视觉中心：梁鸿端坐于榻，竹案上书卷横展，孟光双膝跪地，饮食盘盏高举齐眉。主人公神态坦然平和，虽房舍简陋、粗食布衣，但高人隐士志在山野的高洁志趣令人油然而生敬意。

　　此图虽为主题人物画，实则集山水、人物、建筑画为一体。山石多用干笔皴擦，注意用墨色的深浅对比强调峰岫的凹凸和凝重的质感，石上干笔点苔的技法更是画家的独创。房屋和木栏栅篱用界笔描绘，结构交待严谨清楚，并能表现出一定的立体感和纵深关系，是今天我们能见到的传世卷轴画中年代最早的以界笔“植柱构梁”的建筑画迹之一。

　　此图曾经宋周密《云烟过眼录》，明张丑《清河书画舫》、清孙承泽《庚子销夏记》、安岐《墨缘汇观》、《石渠宝笈·续编》、阮元《石渠随笔》等书著录，是一件递藏有绪、鉴定界公认的五代卫贤真迹。

 Wei Xian (10th century A.D.) [Five Dynasties, Southern Tang Dynasty], a native of Chang'an (now Xi'an, Shaanxi Province), was born and died in an unknown year. Li Yu Dynasty (961-975), the emperor of Shinan Tang Dynasty, offered sacrifices to the Inner Court. Although the national strength of the Southern Tang Dynasty is not strong, in the short 32 years from the Chinese Emperor Li Jing Dynasty (943-961) to the later Emperor Li Yu Dynasty (961-975), the masters of painting such as Gu Rongzhong, Dong Yuan, Zhou Wenzhong, Xu Xi, Zhao Gan and Wei Xian should be able to use the phrase "the current situation creates heroes", which is the turning period of Chinese painting from the figure painting of the Tang Dynasty to the landscape painting of the Northern Song Dynasty. Some painters have made great contributions to connecting the preceding with the following.

Yin Jizhao, a junior teacher, worked tirelessly and practised Wu Daozi. Excellent at the characters of Lou Guandian and the water mill by turning, it can be converted in proportion to "no difference". It has correct perspective, rigorous composition, fine depiction and no vulgar craftsmanship. It was called the first master of the Tang and Five Dynasties. Part-time work on mountains and rivers, high cliffs and huge rocks, thick and dignified but not old. Try "Chunjiang Diaoshu Tu", Li Yu as its title "Fisherman's Ci" two: "Longyuan intends to snow thousands, peaches and plums speechless a team of spring. A pot of wine, a pole of scale, happy as a few people. "One spring breeze, one leaf boat, one silk cocoon, one light hook." Huamanzhu is full of wine and freedom in the waves of thousands of hectares. "Xuanhe Painting Spectrum" records 25 Works of the imperial palace, such as "Lock Train Map", "Snow Palace Map", "Water Crossing Luohan Map", "Shudao Map" and "Immortal Stories Map". The handed down works include the axis of Gaoshitu, silk, light color, 135 centimeters in length and 52.5 centimeters in transverse direction. The story of Liang Hong and Meng Guang in the Eastern Han Dynasty "respecting each other as guests, raising their eyebrows" is full of thick rocks, dense trees, dry brush dotted moss, exquisite dyeing, rigorous structure and high artistic value. There are five characters in Zhao You's book "Wei Xian Gaoshi Tu" in front of the water barrier, with the inscription of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty on it. It is now stored in the Palace Museum; Volume (Biography) of "Lock Train Tu" and Shanghai Museum.

"Gaoshitu" Volume, Five Dynasties, Wei Xian's Works, Silk, Colouring, 134.5 cm in length, 52.5 cm in horizontal.

The title of Zhao You's thin gold book of Song Huizong, Wei Xian Gaoshi Tu, is in the form of handwritten scroll, which is the Xuanhua and Decoration of the Inner Government of Northern Song Dynasty.

Describes the story of Liang Hong, a hermit in the Han Dynasty, and Meng Guang, his wife, "respecting each other as guests, raising cases with equal eyebrows". The painter arranges Liang Hong's residence in the nature surrounded by mountains and rivers. The upper half of the whole picture is built by huge peaks, the distant mountains are vast, the lower half is covered by bamboo trees and rivers are rippling. Character activities in the middle of the picture are the visual center of the viewer: Liang Hongduan sits on the couch, books spread across the bamboo case, Meng Guang kneels, food dishes raised eyebrows. The protagonist has a calm and peaceful manner. Although the house is simple and rough, he eats cloth and clothes, but the noble aspiration of the hermits in the mountains is highly respected.

Although this picture is a thematic figure painting, it is actually a combination of landscape, figure and architectural painting. Hills and stones are mostly rubbed with dry brushes. The contrast of dark and shade of ink is used to emphasize the concave and convex and dignified texture of peaks and headlands. The technique of dried brushes and moss dotting on rocks is the originality of painters. House and wooden fence are depicted with boundary pen, the structure is precise and clear, and it can show a certain sense of three-dimensional and deep relationship. It is one of the earliest architectural paintings in the handed-down scroll paintings that we can see today with boundary pen "planting pillars and building beams".

This picture was once recorded in Song Zhou Mi's "Yunyan Passing through Eye Record", "Qinghe Calligraphy and Painting Qi" by Zhang Chou in the Ming Dynasty, Gengzi Selling Summer Record by Sun Chengze in the Qing Dynasty, Moyuan Huiguan, Shiqu Baoji Succession, Ruan Yuan's "Shiqu Essays" and so on. It is a well-known true trace of Wei Xian in the five generations.