The Versatile Master Artist

"The charm of the brush and ink is distinctive, indeed quite interesting."

Gu Tongxiang left a beautifully brushed Chinese painting, "Rich and Noble Peony Painting," on his personal page at Ma Shi Gallery.

Anna focused her attention on it.

The peony was a bright red, the stamens golden yellow, and the foliage lush green.

Anna knew that plum, orchid, bamboo, chrysanthemum, and peony were all plant imagery with special meanings in Eastern art culture.

Traditional Eastern painters have many considerations when painting peonies well.

Unlike common herbaceous flowers.

The peony is a woody plant.

Therefore, the branches must be painted with vigour, full and rounded, yet containing variations in intensity.

There is profound elegance in Gu Tongxiang’s brushwork and ink.

Overall, it is a traditional Eastern brush painting, but the strokes convey a sense of colour principles similar to oil paint, creating a feeling that seems to be—

"Hmm."

Miss Elina pondered for a moment, then opened the buyer recommendation section of the "Oil Painting" magazine on her tablet’s browser.

She entered the database and clicked on the search box with her fingertip.

"Oil Painting" magazine is considered an essential tool and guide for anyone in the field of art.

A monthly membership of 75 Euros is honestly not cheap at all.

Even for high-income, high-welfare Europeans, it’s very expensive.

But even in the frugal household of Gu Weijing, where subscriptions to Netflix, HBO, and such common TV memberships were avoided, opting instead for piracy downloads online.

Gu’s Calligraphy and Painting Gallery consistently funds a subscription to "Oil Painting."

Because its functionality is so powerful and professional.

It covers almost every aspect of the art business field.

The magazine has extremely rich and comprehensive features, with in-depth cooperation with several renowned art databases like ARTNET and ARTPRICE.

Besides recommending major artists in the art world, the buyer recommendation section also covers the results of over 90% of legitimate auctions worldwide.

It provides historical transaction records for hundreds of thousands of artworks, price fluctuation curves, and high-quality digital catalogues.

Anna, recalling her memory of artworks, typed "Giuseppe Castiglione/Turkey(2012)" into the keyboard and clicked search.

The webpage was immediately directed to a 2012 Pauli auction transaction record.

"Indeed, the painting technique of these two paintings gives a sense of shared origin and flow."

Anna nodded.

Five years ago, a Qing Dynasty Palace Painting "Turkey Painting" by Giuseppe Castiglione (note: Lang Shining’s real name) was auctioned at the Pauli auction.

Many years ago, this painting had been auctioned at a small auction in New York.

At that time, the transaction price was only a few tens of thousands of US dollars.

Later, with the art market’s enthusiasm for Lang Shining’s style, and the accurate source of the painting being confirmed in the "Ministry of Internal Affairs Made Archives" from the Qing Palace.

A few years ago, it was auctioned for about 12 million US dollars, attracting great attention in the art market. "Oil Painting" magazine even published a special commentary article.

From a technique perspective.

This palace painter, in terms of brush and ink quality, falls short compared to Eastern contemporaries Tang Dai, Leng Mei, and Ding Guanpeng, and in terms of realism and colour brilliance, is overshadowed by Baroque style.

Yet, Lang Shining’s name has an increasing trend of becoming top-tier in auction houses.

His unique painting style plays a key role in this, and its contribution cannot be overlooked.

Unexpectedly, now there appears to be a second Eastern painter in the world, following this retro art route.

Anna firmly remembered the name Gu Tongxiang.

"Hmm, no wonder Ma Shi Gallery took interest in this elder. In today’s homogeneous oil painting market, this painting style can easily leave a deep impression on collectors. Plus, it reflects the artist’s genuine skill more than some avant-garde art movements like Dadaism that sell a blank sheet of paper."

Anna nodded in approval and slightly furrowed her brows.

But to speak in detail...

Subtracting the advantage of the novel painting technique.

The brushwork level of this "Rich and Noble Peony Painting," according to Miss Elina’s evaluation standards, only barely passes.

This is considering that it comes from Myanmar, such a small place away from the art trend.

Being able to paint in this style is already quite remarkable, and Anna was too embarrassed to express a sharper critique, hence she gave Gu Tongxiang a passing score in her mind.

From the perspective of the structure of brushwork lines.

The standard of this "Peony Painting" falls far short of the meticulous sketching quality of Detective Cat Sister that could be printed in textbooks.

"However, this painting technique isn’t too focused on demonstrating the sketch aspect in the first place."

Miss Elina was not sure if this old gentleman from Myanmar had any likelihood of being Detective Cat, with whom she was connected.

Looking at the situation.

There is a greater probability that... Detective Cat Sister is not on this list at all?

Eliot thoughtfully attached a link to the gallery homepage with every document she organized.

With the mindset that looking wouldn’t hurt, Anna navigated to Ma Shi Gallery’s official website.

After some browsing.

She didn’t find any noteworthy extra information about "Gu Tongxiang."

The gallery also wouldn’t display the exact contracts signed with their represented painters on the homepage.

She neither hoped for this Gu Tongxiang to be Detective Cat nor could she completely rule out the possibility like with the previous two gentlemen.

Anna made an unexpected discovery.

On Ma Shi Gallery’s official website, this "Peony Painting" was currently for sale.

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