李唐在北宋徽宗时入画院，南渡后以成忠郎衔任画院待诏，时年已八十。他创格变体，开南宋绘画一代风气。

“南宋四家”发展的大背景是南宋王朝在临安的建立，在政权稍稳定后，赵构重整宫廷画院，江南地区的绘画在继承北宋成就的基础上有了新的发展天地，代表这一时期绘画成就的便是“南宋四家”。

这四家的艺术风格既有共同特征，又有各自的艺术个性，他们的画风在南宋150年盛行不衰，对后世也有深远影响。

故宫博物院藏南宋刘松年的《四景山水图卷》为绢本，设色，四幅，纵41.2厘米，横分别为67.9厘米、69.2厘米、68.9厘米、69.5厘米。

 刘松年，钱塘(今浙江杭州人)，因居住于清波门外而被人称为“刘清波”或“暗门刘”(清波门俗称暗门)。淳熙初画院学生，绍熙年间(1190~1194年)升为画院待诏。

《四景山水图卷》描绘西湖庭院别墅的四时景色，春景图中春风绿柳，芳草萋萋，外游寻春，生机盎然；夏景图中花繁树茂，新荷初展，主人端坐，静心纳凉；秋景图中老树经霜，秋色甚浓，庭院深深，长者独坐；冬景图中白雪飘冬，朔风凛冽，骑驴过桥，踏雪寻梅。

四时变化清晰，四景描绘入木，笔墨严谨细密，刚健兼有滋润，既继承了界画用笔精细的传统，又把人物与环境有机地融为一体，笔墨生妙，诗意浓郁。故宫博物院藏南宋马远的《踏歌图轴》为绢本，设色，纵192.5厘米，横111厘米。

 马远，字遥父，号钦山，原籍河中(今山西永济)，出生于钱塘(今浙江杭州)，其曾祖、祖父、伯、兄及本人均为画院待诏，活动于南宋光宗、宁宗年间。马远对于山水、人物、花鸟无一不精，其山水画的成就尤为突出。马远有“马一角”之称，意指马远多作山水一角之景致，所画的树石线条刚劲坚凝，有如折钗股似的弯折之角。他常常不作全景式铺陈格局，而描绘边角之景，如明代曹昭所说：“或峭峰直上而不见其顶，或绝壁直下而不见其脚，或近山参天而远山则低，或孤舟泛月而一坐独坐。”(明曹昭：《格古要论》)《踏歌图轴》系马远大幅山水的代表作，也是大斧劈皴法的经典之作。图中远山矗立，雾霭迷蒙，宫阙隐现，小桥通垄，老翁醉酒，且歌且行，安居乐业，景象和谐。图意可见宋宁宗赵扩在图上题的五言绝句：“宿雨清畿甸，朝阳丽帝城。丰年人乐业，垄上踏歌行。”故宫博物院藏南宋夏圭的《梧竹溪堂图页》为绢本，设色，纵23厘米，横26厘米。

 夏圭，字禹玉，钱塘(今浙江杭州)人。宋宁宗朝画院待诏。初学人物，后工山水。夏圭有“夏半边”之称，意指夏圭多作山水滩岸林带半边之景致。此图页画梧桐用浓墨作双勾，苍劲质朴，画竹叶分出浓淡不同层次，茅屋中的人物以简笔勾出，远山以花青轻勾淡染，下笔果断，墨色淋漓，笔法苍老，但气韵清幽。现存作品有《溪山清远图》、《西湖柳艇图》、《长江万里图》等。

南宋四家作品欣赏

 由李唐、刘松年再到马远、夏珪，发展出了南宋独具特色的山水画。这种“一角半边”的构图，在画面中留下大片空白，使画面和景物变得更加简洁、主体鲜明突出而意境完整。这是“南宋四家”在总结前人绘画经验的基础上，在艺术上高度提炼得到的构图样式，使画面情景交融，富有浓郁的诗意。那种从政治角度认为南宋的偏角山水是南宋偏安“剩水残山”反映的观点是带有偏见和缺乏根据的。以“南宋四家”为代表的南宋院体画在南宋灭亡后，并未消失，而是潜伏在民间，直到明朝建立，对明代院体画有着深刻的影响。

 Li Tang was admitted to the Painting Academy when Huizong was in the Northern Song Dynasty. He was appointed as Chengzhong Lang after his South voyage. He was eighty years old. He created a new style and created a style of painting in the Southern Song Dynasty.

The main background of the development of the "Four Schools of Southern Song Dynasty" is the establishment of the Southern Song Dynasty in Linan. After the regime stabilized a little, Zhao Gou reorganized the palace painting academy. On the basis of inheriting the achievements of the Northern Song Dynasty, the paintings in the southern part of the Yangtze River had a new development world. The "Four Schools of Southern Song Dynasty" represented the achievements

The artistic styles of these four schools have both common characteristics and their own artistic individuality. Their painting style prevailed in the Southern Song Dynasty for 150 years and had a far-reaching impact on later generations.

The Four Landscapes Picture Volume of Liu Songnian in the Southern Song Dynasty, collected by the Palace Museum, is a silk book with four colors, 41.2 cm in length and 67.9 cm, 69.2 cm, 68.9 cm and 69.5 cm in horizontal respectively.

Liu Songnian, Qiantang (now from Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province), was known as "Liu Qingbo" or "secret door Liu" (commonly known as "secret door" in Qingbomen) because he lived outside the gate of Qingbo. Chunxi School of Painting students, Shaoxi years (1190 - 1194) to be promoted to the Academy of Painting pending edict.

The Four Sceneries Scroll depicts the four-hour scenery of the West Lake Courtyard Villa. The spring scenery is full of green willows, fragrant grass and vigor. The summer scenery is full of flowers and trees, the new lotus is on its first exhibition, the host sits quietly and receives cool. The autumn scenery is full of frost, the autumn color is very strong, the courtyard is deep, and the elders are sitting alone; the winter scenery is white. Snow drifting in winter, windy, riding donkeys across the bridge, treading snow to find plum.

Four seasons change clearly, four scenes are depicted in wood, the brush and ink are precise and meticulous, vigorous and moist. It inherits the fine tradition of boundary painting, and integrates the characters and the environment organically. The brush and ink are exquisite and poetic. The Palace Museum collects Ma Yuan's "Ta Ge Picture Axis" in the Southern Song Dynasty, which is silk with color set, 192.5 cm in length and 111 cm in transverse.

Ma Yuan, Ziyao Father, No. Qinshan, was born in Hezhong (now Yongji, Shanxi Province) in Qiantang (now Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province). His great-grandfather, uncle, brother and himself were all in the painting academy for enquiry. They were active in the Guangzong and Ningzong years of the Southern Song Dynasty. Ma Yuan is good at landscapes, figures, flowers and birds, and his achievements in landscape painting are particularly outstanding. Ma Yuan is known as the "Horse's Corner", which means that Ma Yuan does a corner of the landscape, and the lines of the trees and stones he paints are rigid and firm, like the bending corners of a hairpin strand. He often did not make panoramic layout, but depicted the view of the corner, as Cao Zhao of the Ming Dynasty said: "Or the cliff is straight up without its top, or the cliff is straight down without its foot, or the mountains are close to the sky but far away are low, or sit alone in a boat for a month." (Cao Zhao, Ming Dynasty: Gegu Yao Lun), "Ta Ge Tu Axis" is Ma Yuan's masterpiece of large mountains and rivers, and is also a classic of the axe-chopping method. In the picture, the distant mountains stand tall, misty, palaces are hidden, bridges pass through ridges, old men are drunk, and they sing and walk, live and work in peace and harmony. It can be seen that Zhao Yan of Song Ningzong wrote five words in the picture: "Suyu Qingji Dian, Chaoyang Lidi City". In the prime of life, people are happy to work and sing on the ridge. Xiagui's "Map Page of Wuzhuxi Hall" in the Southern Song Dynasty, collected by the Palace Museum, is a silk book with colors of 23 centimeters in length and 26 centimeters in breadth.

Xia Gui, a character Yuyu, is from Qiantang (now Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province). Song Ningzong Painting Academy awaits edict. A beginner's character is a beginner's landscape. Xiagui is known as "the half of summer", which means that Xiagui mostly works on the half of the landscape, beach and forest belt. This page draws Chinese parasol trees with thick ink as double hooks, vigorous and plain, drawing bamboo leaves at different levels, figures in the hut are outlined in simple strokes, the distant mountains are lightly colored with blue and blue, the brush is decisive, the ink is vivid, the brushwork is old, but the breath is quiet. Existing works include "The Qingyuan Map of Xishan", "The Liuyao Map of West Lake", "The Wanli Map of the Yangtze River" and so on.

From Li Tang, Liu Songnian to Ma Yuan and Xia Qian, the unique landscape paintings of the Southern Song Dynasty were developed. This kind of "one corner and half side" composition leaves a large blank in the picture, which makes the picture and scenery more concise, the main body distinct and the artistic conception complete. This is the composition style highly refined by the "Four Schools of Southern Song Dynasty" on the basis of summing up their predecessors'painting experience, which makes the picture scene blend and full of rich poetic flavor. From a political point of view, it is biased and unfounded to think that the sloping hills and rivers of the Southern Song Dynasty are reflected by the "residual water and mountains" of the Southern Song Dynasty. After the collapse of the Southern Song Dynasty, the courtyard style paintings represented by the "Four Schools of Southern Song Dynasty" did not disappear, but lurked in the folk until the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, which had a profound impact on the courtyard style paintings of the Ming Dynasty.