This Chinese art history book is a study of a single poet-artist—Wang Wei—perhaps the most influential of antiquity.

This eighth-century genius, whose versatility is comparable to that of the great Italian Leonardo da Vinci, lived during the Tang Dynasty when the most brilliant cultural period in Chinese history was at its height.

Whatever he attempted—as artist, poet, musician, doctor and official—he performed with a master's touch. As a poet he earned the title of "Great." He is acknowledged as the father of pure Chinese landscape painting., destined to become classic throughout the world. Wang's initiative in monochromes and his advanced skills in techniques were harbingers of different types of paintings.

Greatest of all his innovations is the long horizontal Chinese scroll, reaching a length, in some instances, of over twenty feet.