Xiao Yuncong was a famed Chinese landscape painter, calligrapher, and poet in late Ming

Ming Dynasty

The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...

 and early Qing

Qing Dynasty

The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....

 dynasties.

Xiao was born in Wuhu in Anhui

Anhui

Anhui is a province in the People's Republic of China. Located in eastern China across the basins of the Yangtze River and the Huai River, it borders Jiangsu to the east, Zhejiang to the southeast, Jiangxi to the south, Hubei to the southwest, Henan to the northwest, and Shandong for a tiny...

 province, at that time part of Taiping Prefecture

Taiping Prefecture

Taiping Prefecture was an administrative region of China during the Ming and Qing Dynasties that spanned roughly the areas of the modern day cities of Ma'anshan and Wuhu in Anhui Province. During the Ming Dynasty the prefecture was classified as part of Southern Zhili and later came under the...

. His style name was 'Chimu' (尺木) and his pseudonym was 'Wumen Daoren' (无闷道人). Later in life he acquired the pseudonyms 'Zhongshan Laoren' (中山老人) and 'Anhui Wuhuren' (安徽芜湖人). Xiao was known for his landscape paintings such as the Taiping shanshui tuhua (太平山水图画) which used dry and twisting brushstrokes called gui shu pai (姑熟派). He did not follow any previous artist's style. In calligraphy, he produced the work Mei Hua Tang Posthumous manuscript (梅花堂遗稿). He remained a life-long Ming dynasty supporter.