Nymph of the Luo River, from the album Figures in Settings

On this, the first leaf in the album, the inscription acts as an introduction to the album as a whole, and its subject of “elegant, dissolute, chivalrous, or unusual characters” in history and legend that fascinated Zhāng Hóng. The inscription makes no mention of the subject of the painting, however, leaving the connections to be made by an educated viewer.

“The Nymph of the Luo River” (Luòshénfù 洛神賦) was a famous romantic poem by Cáo Zhí 曹植 (192–232). It describes a star-crossed meeting between the poet and a beautiful river goddess. The image connects to Zhāng Hóng’s theme in that the poet Cáo Zhí was a prince who had noble intentions, but lacked political skills and drank heavily.

The poem was illustrated by the major early painter Gù Kǎizhī (顧愷之, ca. 345–406), whose vision of the goddess as a willowy figure with fluttering robes and scarves became a standard representation. Here she floats above the river, her silk garments billowing around her.

INSCRIPTION: NYMPH OF THE LUO RIVER
己丑夏日予山居之暇，每友談及古之風流、曠逸、莭俠、幽奇者，予不勝擊莭神飛，因而摹此十四幅。筆雖簡拙，亼足以快爽襟期，消镕鄙俗，观者得毋誚筆之濫觴乎。
張宏時年七十有三
On a summer day in 1649, I was relaxing in the mountains. Whenever my friends talked about the elegant, dissolute, chivalrous, or unusual characters [ from the past ], I could not help applauding and got carried away. So I returned home and painted these fourteen leaves. Although the brushwork is simple and clumsy, the images are still agreeable, avoiding the false and the vulgar. I hope that viewers will not reproach the artist.
Zhāng Hóng at 73 years of age