Streams and Mountains after Rain

Although he received a traditional Chinese education, Wu Li was exposed to Catholicism in his youth and later became attracted to a life of religious commitment. In 1688, after several years of intense study, he was among the first Chinese ordained as a Jesuit priest. Devoting himself to missionary work, from 1695 to 1704 he was stationed in Jiading in Jiangsu Province, where he painted this scroll on the eve of his departure for nearby Shanghai. In his inscription, Wu Li explains that he created this painting to encourage a local friend in his attachment to the Catholic faith.

From the Chinese perspective, it was natural to employ this work for such a purpose, for landscape painting was felt to embody not only an artist's intellectual and aesthetic values but also the moral principles that sustained him. Wu Li studied painting together with Wang Hui (1632-1717). Under the tutelage of Wang Shimin and Wang Jian, he absorbed an enduring regard for the Song and Yuan dynasty masters, especially Huang Gongwang (1269-1354), whose style, as in the painting, came to permeate his own. Wu Li is included among the Six Orthodox Masters of the Early Qing.