Gu Kaizhi of the Jin Dynasty was a man of extraordinary talent and profound learning, but his painting skills were what truly made him famous across the land. When Gu painted figures, they were so lifelike and vivid they seemed ready to step off the silk. Yet, oddly enough, he never dotted in the pupils of his subjects' eyes. When someone asked why, Gu replied, "The spirit that brings a figure to life lies right here, in this very spot." With that single remark, he revealed the secret of his art, leaving all who heard it in awe. In his time, he was hailed as a man of three perfections: perfection in talent, perfection in painting, and perfection in eccentric devotion.
During the Southern Liang Dynasty of the Northern and Southern Dynasties period, there emerged a master painter named Zhang Sengyou, renowned for his landscapes, figures, and Buddhist icons. Emperor Wu of Liang, having built numerous temples and pagodas, commissioned him to paint them all. Legend has it that once, Zhang painted four dragons on a temple wall but left them without pupils. When asked why, he replied, "If I dot the pupils, these dragons will break through the wall and fly away." The crowd scoffed and insisted he try, so he dotted two—and indeed, they shattered the wall and soared into the sky. Though this tale borders on the fantastic, it vividly attests to his extraordinary artistic skill.
During the Tang Dynasty, an even more accomplished painter emerged: Wu Daozi, a master of both painting and calligraphy. His landscapes and Buddhist figures were renowned, and his calligraphy earned him the title "Sage of Calligraphy." Legend has it that Emperor Xuanzong once commissioned him to paint a massive mural of the Jialing River, covering hundreds of miles of scenery—and Wu Daozi completed it in a single day. At Jingxuan Temple, he painted a "Transformation Scene of Hell," which, though devoid of ghosts or monsters, was so chillingly vivid that many viewers, upon seeing it, reportedly repented and turned away from evil.
Later, when critics evaluated these three painters, they concluded that Gu Kaizhi's work surpassed all his predecessors, Zhang Sengyou's art left no equal among those who came after, and Wu Daozi alone combined the strengths of both.
Later, the idiom "unprecedented and unrepeatable" came to describe something that surpasses both past and present, unique in its kind.
Source: *Xuanhe Painting Manual*
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "空前绝后" came to describe how something surpasses both past and present, unique in its kind.