Qiu Ying

Qiu Ying (c. 1494–1552) was a Ming gongbi painter and one of the Four Masters of Ming. Born to a peasant family in Taicang, he moved to Suzhou and worked as a lacquer painter until Zhou Chen trained him.

Employed by Jiangnan collectors such as Xiang Yuanbian, he studied their Song and Yuan paintings and broadened his art. He copied old masters so faithfully that his versions could pass for originals, while forging his own style of fine-line figures and blue-and-green landscapes.

He remained a professional outsider to Suzhou's amateur Wu school. Yet he was ranked alongside Shen Zhou, Wen Zhengming and Tang Yin.