During the Liang Dynasty of the Southern and Northern Dynasties period, there was a great painter named Zhang Sengyou whose artistic style profoundly influenced the painting traditions of the late Southern and Northern Dynasties, as well as the Sui and Tang Dynasties.
Zhang Sengyou created countless paintings throughout his life, yet none of his original works survive today. His famous piece, "The Five Stars and Twenty-Eight Constellations in Divine Forms," now housed in Japan, is likely a Tang Dynasty copy—the only remaining glimpse into his artistic style.
Zhang Sengyou once served as the imperial painter in Emperor Wu of Liang's court, where he studied countless masterpieces from past dynasties, honing his artistic skill. When painting the emperor's portrait, he boldly captured His Majesty's distinctive features—a turned-up lip and protruding teeth—with unflinching realism.
Emperor Wu of Liang, with his sons stationed across the realm, found it difficult to see them in person. Whenever he wished to lay eyes on them, he would summon the painter Zhang Sengyou to travel to each son's post, capture their likeness, and bring the portraits back to the palace. This practice alone speaks volumes about Zhang's extraordinary skill in portraiture.
Zhang Sengyou was a master at painting dragons. Legend has it that at the Huayan Temple in Kunshan, near Suzhou, he painted a dragon on the wall. Whenever a storm approached, the painted dragon would writhe and leap as if alive. Terrified that it might break free, the locals urgently summoned Zhang Sengyou and begged him to do something. After a moment's thought, Zhang picked up his brush and calmly added a painted lock to the dragon's body, rendering it immobile. From then on, the dragon never stirred again. Source: *Anecdotes of Famous Painters*, "Zhang Sengyou"
The most remarkable story is about how he painted a dragon and brought it to life.
Once, the painter Zhang Sengyou painted four white dragons on the wall of Anle Temple in Jinling (present-day Nanjing, Jiangsu Province), but he did not dot their pupils.
Someone asked curiously, "Master, why don't you paint the eyes on the dragon?" Zhang Sengyou replied solemnly, "Painting the eyes is easy, but once I do, the dragon will fly away."
Hearing this response, the crowd grew even more curious, urging him to paint the eyes and see if the dragon would truly soar away.
Zhang Sengyou, unable to resist the crowd's insistence, finally picked up his brush and added the finishing touches to the dragons' eyes.
Then a miracle occurred. As soon as the painter finished dotting the pupils on two dragons, thunder roared and lightning flashed, followed by a deafening crash as the wall split open. Everyone peered closely—the broken wall was now empty, and the two dragons with finished eyes had soared into the sky on clouds and mist. Meanwhile, the dragon without pupils remained motionless on the wall. Only then did the crowd truly believe.
This mythical story is certainly not true, but it tells us that Zhang Sengyou's paintings were so vivid because he placed great emphasis on capturing the spirit of his subjects. He did not immediately dot the eyes of the dragon, as he was considering how to make it appear as if it would "break through the wall and fly away" with lifelike momentum.
Later, people used the idiom "drawing the dragon, dotting the eyes" to describe adding a brilliant finishing touch in speech or writing that highlights the key point and makes it more vivid and powerful.
Source: *Records of Famous Paintings Through the Ages*
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "画龙点睛" came to describe adding a brilliant finishing touch in speech or writing that highlights the key point and makes it more vivid and powerful.