Jing Hao, 855 – 915

Jing Hao: The 1 Most Famous Paintings

Mt. K'uang-lu (900) is the most famous painting by Jing Hao, held by the National Palace Museum in Taipei. From the 1 works of Jing Hao in our catalogue, here are the 1 that collectors and museum visitors look at most, with the year, the museum and the story of each.

Ranked by our popularity score, which combines the searches, visits and orders for each work. Updated October 2026. Every masterpiece on this page can be ordered as a museum-quality, hand-painted oil reproduction or a fine art print, at the size you choose.

Portrait of Jing Hao
Jing Hao · 855 – 915
Born · died
855 – 915, Qinshui County
Works in our catalogue
1
Most famous
Mt. K'uang-lu (900)
Most works at
National Palace Museum

Top 10: Jing Hao's best-known paintings

Where to see Jing Hao's paintings

The museum that holds the most of the paintings on this page.

Museum City Works by Jing Hao Paintings from this list
National Palace Museum, TaipeiNational Palace Museum Taipei 1 Mt. K'uang-lu

Jing Hao through the years: the masterpieces of each year

900 is the year of every dated Jing Hao masterpiece on this page: here they are, in order of fame.

  1. 900

Jing Hao's paintings: frequently asked questions

What is the most famous Jing Hao painting?Show the answer

Mt. K'uang-lu (900).

At what age did Jing Hao paint Mt. K'uang-lu?Show the answer

45 years old: Mt. K'uang-lu dates from 900 and Jing Hao was born in 855.

How many paintings by Jing Hao are there?Show the answer

Our catalogue lists 1 works by Jing Hao.

Where can I see the most famous Jing Hao paintings?Show the answer

Most of them are in National Palace Museum (Taipei). The table above lists the museums one by one.

Where can I buy a Jing Hao reproduction?Show the answer

Yes. Every painting on this page can be ordered as a museum-quality, hand-painted oil reproduction or a fine art print, in the size you choose, from the painting's own page.

Jing Hao: biography

The Architect of the Northern Landscape

In the turbulent twilight of the Tang dynasty and the subsequent era of the Five Dynasties, a period marked by profound political fragmentation and social upheaval, there emerged a figure whose brush would define the very soul of Chinese landscape painting. Jing Hao, known by his courtesy name Haoran and art name Hongguality, was more than a mere painter; he was a visionary theorist and a master of the monumental. While much of the world around him descended into the chaos of warring factions, Jing Hao sought refuge in the rugged, mist-shrouded heights of the Taihang Mountains in Shanxi province. It was within this seclusion, living much of his life as a simple farmer, that he cultivated a profound spiritual and technical connection to the natural world, transforming the jagged peaks and dense cloud forests into a language of eternal permanence.

His artistic evolution was deeply rooted in the traditions of the Tang dynasty court painters, yet he possessed the rare genius to transcend them. While he inherited an appreciation for the grandeur and harmony found in the works of masters like Wang Wei, Jing Hao pushed the boundaries of the medium by pioneering the use of ink wash (yongmo) techniques. By manipulating varying tones of black ink, he was able to simulate depth, moisture, and the ethereal atmospheric perspective of a mountain range swallowed by fog. This mastery allowed him to move beyond mere representation, creating landscapes that felt as though they breathed with the rhythm of the earth itself.

A Legacy Written in Ink and Theory

The significance of Jing Hao extends far beyond the physical beauty of his surviving works, such as Mount Kuanglu and Travelers in a Snowy Landscape. He was a scholar-artist who sought to codify the very essence of painting through his influential treatise, Bifaji (or Record of Brush Methods). In this seminal essay, he articulated the spiritual aims, aesthetic ideals, and technical methods required for a painter to achieve true harmony with nature. His writings served as a foundational textbook for generations of artists, providing the theoretical scaffolding upon which the great Northern Song masters would later build their careers.

The impact of his "Northern Landscape style" cannot be overstated. Characterized by bold compositions, crisp, decisive lines, and the depiction of precipitous mountain crags, his work stood in striking contrast to the softer, more fluid styles emerging from southern China. This rugged, monumental approach became the standard for the Northern Song period, establishing a lineage of greatness that included his pupil Guan Tong and the legendary Li Cheng. Through his unique ability to blend technical innovation with profound philosophical depth, Jing Hao ensured that the mountains he painted would remain etched in the collective consciousness of Chinese art for over a millennium.

The work of Jing Hao →