家世

先世衡山人，故一號文衡山。先祖與文天祥同族，以軍功出世，明初文定開隨朱元璋征討張士誠有功。祖父文惠入贅蘇州人張聲遠家，遂遷居長洲。父文林，成化間進士，官至浙江溫州府知府。兄文徵靜，弟文室。

生平

成化六年十一月初六日（1470年11月28日），文徵明出生于蘇州德慶橋西北曹家巷。他早年曾向王韋之父王徽問學。十三歲至十五歲時隨父在博平縣。十六歲返回蘇州，與唐寅、都穆訂下交誼，並跟隨都穆學詩。十七、八歲間，文徵明因父在滁州南京太僕寺為官，跟隨前往。期間于太僕寺少卿呂㦂左右服侍。十九歲為諸生時，寫字不佳，被列三等，不得參與鄉試，始努力學習書法。奈仕途不順，九試皆墨，一直未能考取功名。

弘治二年（1489），文徵明二十歲，因不喜歡科舉嚴格的章法，乃與祝允明、唐寅、都穆、楊循吉倡導寫作古文辭。這年他在承天寺雙娥精舍參觀沈周作《長江萬里圖》，頗有感悟，遂拜沈周為師。師徒二人關係甚洽，文徵明說：「吾先生非人間人也，神仙中人也！」云云，而沈周也誇讚征明說：「征明庚甲（指年齡）何異，乃聰慧若此？」按錢謙益所輯《石田先生事略》，沈周一開始擔心教授文徵明作畫會影響他的學業，不過最終還是將自己的本事傾囊相授。文徵明一生都非常尊敬這位師友，即使日後成名，也一直認為自己無法在作畫上超越沈周。弘治五年（1492），文徵明師事吳江人西村先生史鑑、趙寬，兩人皆擅詩文。當年，于自宅營造了停雲館。娶崑山人吳愈第三女為妻。吳氏之母夏氏，為太常卿夏㫤之女。時文徵明交遊範圍進一步擴大，與吳爟、吳奕、蔡羽、錢同愛、陳淳、湯珍、王守、王寵、張靈為處士邢參「東莊十友」。明年，因父親的關繫結識莊㫤，為忘年交。這期間，文徵明逐漸篤定了不仕之志。

弘治八年（1495），師從吏部右侍郎吳寬。寬與文徵明父文林為同年進士，當時正在家居喪，文林便將兒子送去學習。吳寬非常高興，將自己的古文法悉數教給文徵明，並在朝廷公卿間稱讚這位學生。到了秋天，文徵明前往應天府參加鄉試，沒能中舉。同年畫《金蕉落照圖》吳瑞（字德征）為之作詩，又與唐寅商討作畫之法。弘治九年（1496），學習荊浩、關仝的技法。弘治十年，文徵明因博古善議論，熟知元、明間故事，與唐寅、祝允明、徐禎卿一同被人稱為「吳中四才子」，時年二十八歲。文徵明性格木訥，不近女色，唐寅、錢同愛、祝允明等往往以女子誘惑、調戲征明，終不為所動。

弘治十一年（1498），與唐寅、顧蘭上南京應試，三人中只有文徵明一人不售。翌年，徐經、唐寅捲入考題洩露案，唐寅被黜為吏，不久出走，將家事託付給文徵明。六月七日，父喪。至弘治十四年除喪，繼續發奮讀書。明年，唐寅歸家，文徵明在之後的一段時間內屢次規勸他不可頹喪，幾乎導致兩人失和。後來文徵明有詩描繪這一時期的唐寅：「若非縱酒應成病，除卻梳頭即是僧。」寅最後寫了一封《答文徵明書》向他道歉。往後，文徵明多與友朋游于虎丘、太湖間。弘治十八年，文徵明在蘇州已經出名，吳爟、許國用雨中來訪求畫。

正德元年（1506）四月，文徵明參與修撰的《姑蘇志》告成。同年秋，沈周將自己臨摹的《富春山居圖》送給文徵明。正德二年，其兄文征靜遇事，征明千方百計為兄解難。兩個月間，廢寢忘食，終得保全。至秋季，征明在應天府應試，再度落榜。此後，文徵明的書法逐漸為人所道，當時士大夫多求征明書寫墓誌銘。正德六年，文徵明正式以字行世，字則改為征仲。正德七年（1512），寧王朱宸濠遣人來招文徵明，征明硬是稱病不見，也不接受任何饋贈，連報書都沒有寫。當時唐寅、謝時臣、章文都應了寧王的招聘，有人勸文徵明也看在王的地位上答應，但他只是笑而不語，作詩云：「千金逸驥空求骨，萬里冥鴻肯受羅！」將自己比喻為翱翔萬里蒼冥的飛鴻，不可能被寧王所網羅。其後寧王事敗，大家都以為文徵明有先見之明。八年，應試又不售。十年，代表蘇州府縣學生尚書吏部尚書陸完，對當時學校生員沒有出世之途的問題作了反映。十一年，文徵明第七次應試，不售。加之十四年秋、嘉靖元年秋兩次應試，共計九次，皆不中。

嘉靖二年（1523年），由刑部尚書林俊、工部尚書李充嗣推薦於朝，經過吏部考核，被授職低俸微的翰林院待詔的職位。此時書畫已負盛名，求其字畫者眾多，由此受到翰林院同僚的嫉妒和排擠，心中悒悒不樂。其中尤其以楊維聰等人最嫉妒文徵明，據說有人嘗說：「我衙門中不是畫院，乃容畫匠處此耶？」 文徵明自到京第二年起上書請求辭職回家，三年內三次提出辭呈才獲批准。五十七歲辭歸出京，放舟南下，回蘇州定居。自此致力於詩文書畫，不復求仕進，以戲墨弄翰自遣。

早登吳門四家（沈周、文徵明、唐寅、仇英）之列，晚歲聲譽卓著，號稱「文筆遍天下」，四方求購書畫者踏破門檻，據傳「海宇欽慕，縑素山積」。風儀整肅，日本使者登門求畫，再拜而辭，答：「事關國體。」

年近九十時，還孜孜不倦，為人書墓誌。嘉靖三十八年二月二十日（1559年3月28日），未待寫完，文徵明「便置筆端坐而逝」。享壽九十歲，是「吳中四才子」（唐伯虎、文徵明、祝枝山、徐禎卿）中最長壽的一位。門人私謚「貞獻」。朝廷敕贈修職郎、南京國子監博士。其墓葬位于蘇州相城區孫武紀念園內。

畫作

文徵明的書畫造詣極為全面，其詩、文、畫無一不精。人稱是「四絕」的全才。他雖學繼沈周，但仍具有自己的風格。遠學郭熙，近則取法于趙孟頫等人。他一專多能，能青綠，亦能水墨，能工筆，亦能寫意。山水、人物、花卉、蘭竹等無一不工。

文徵明學字是從蘇軾字入手的。後來文徵明從李應禎學書，李應禎書宗歐陽詢，平正婉和，清潤端方，雖非書法大師，卻是一位書法教育家。他是祝枝山的岳父，又是文徵明的啟蒙老師。他除了把學書心得悉數傳授給文徵明外，還鼓勵他突破傳統，自創新格。在文徵明二十二歲時，李應禎看了他的蘇體字，對文徵明說：「破卻工夫何至隨人腳？就令學成王羲之，只是他人書耳！」這些話影響了文徵明一生。

文徵明在書法史上以兼善諸體聞名，尤擅長行書和小楷，王世貞在《藝苑言》上評論說：「待詔（文徵明）以小楷名海內，其所沾沾者隸耳，獨篆不輕為人下，然亦自入 能品。所書《千文》四體，楷法絕精工，有《黃庭》、《遺教》筆意，行體蒼潤，可稱玉版《聖教》，隸亦妙得《受禪》三昧，篆書斤斤陽冰門風，而楷有小法，可寶也。」

文徵明書法溫潤秀勁，穩重老成，法度謹嚴而意態生動。雖無雄渾的氣勢，卻具晉唐書法的風致。他的書風較少具有火氣，在盡興的書寫中，往往流露出溫文的儒雅之氣。也許仕途坎坷的遭際消磨了他的英年銳氣，而大器晚成卻使他的風格日趨穩健。他的傳世書法有《醉翁亭記》、《滕王閣序》、《赤壁賦》、《漁父辭》、《離騷》、《北山移文》、《四體千文》、《草書千字文》、《題宋高宗賜岳飛手敕》、《仇英畫趙孟頫寫經換茶圖文徵明書心經合璧》等；畫作有《雨餘春樹圖》、《影翠軒圖》、《洞庭西山圖》、《綠蔭清話圖》、《綠蔭草堂圖》、《松壑飛泉圖》、《石湖詩圖》、《失竹》、《江南春圖》、《古木寒泉圖》、《塞村鐘馗圖》、《松聲一榻圖》、《好雨聽泉圖》、《蘭竹》、《梨花白燕圖》、《水亭詩思圖》、《仿王蒙山水》、《東園圖》、《關山積雪圖》、《仿趙伯驌後赤壁圖》等；著有《莆田集》。

Wintry trees after Li Cheng.jpg|文徴明 1542年 倣李成寒林圖 紙本墨畫 大英博物館

Wen_Zheng_Ming_East_Garden.jpg|文徵明 東園圖 橫卷絹本設色 縱30.2厘米 橫126.4厘米 現藏于北京故宮博物院

Huishanchahui subsize.jpg|文徵明 惠山茶會圖，1518年

Title epilogue written by Wen Zhengming in Ni Zan's portrait by Qiu Ying.jpg|文徴明 1542年 倪賛像題跋　上海博物館

書法

詩作

《暮春齋居即事》

《石湖》

《感懷》

《月夜登閶門西虹橋》

《夏日睡起》

代表作

• 《雨餘春樹圖》1507年（正德二年）國立故宮博物院

• 《關山積雪圖》1532年（嘉靖十一年）國立故宮博物院

• 《江南春圖》1547年（嘉靖二十六年）國立故宮博物院

• 《枯木寒泉圖》1549年，國立故宮博物院

• 《真賞齋圖》1549年，上海博物館

• 《千巖競秀圖》1550年，國立故宮博物院

• 《虞山七星檜圖》----年，檀香山藝術博物館

• 《溪橋策杖圖》國立故宮博物院

• 《春深高樹圖》

• 《山雨圖》

• 《臨溪幽賞圖》

• 《綠陰長夏圖》

• 《松壑飛泉圖》

• 《石湖圖》

• 《洞庭西山圖》

• 《金焦落照圖》

• 《金陵十景圖》

• 《拙政園圖》

• 《東園圖》卷 故宮博物院

• 《惠山茶會圖》卷 故宮博物院

• 《蘭竹圖》卷 故宮博物院

• 《臨溪幽賞》軸 故宮博物院

後代

長子文彭，字壽承，號三橋，著名書法篆刻家，明清流派篆刻開山祖師。

次子文嘉，字休承，號文水，工石刻，擅畫山水，著有《和州詩》、《鈐山堂書畫記》等。

孫文肇祉

曾孫文震孟，禮部左侍郎兼東閣大學士

曾孫文震亨，著有《長物志》

玄孫女文俶，明代畫家

玄孫文秉

來孫文點，清代畫家

Biography

Wen Zhengming was born Wen Bi near present-day Suzhou on 28 November 1470. He would later be known by his courtesy name, Zhengming. He had an elder brother, Wen Gui, who was born in 1469. When Zhengming was two years old, his father, Wen Lin, passed the imperial examination with the highest possible rank, jinshi. Wen Lin was assigned a government position as a magistrate in Yongjia County in Zhejiang province, and left for his job, leaving his two sons in the care of his wife, Qi Shenning. In 1476, Qi died of an illness at the age of 32. Wen Lin commissioned the noted scholar Li Dongyang to write an inscription for her tomb.

Wen Zhengming's family was originally from a line of military men who lived in Hengshan County, Hunan province. At the time of his great-great-grandfather Wen Dingcong, the family moved to the city of Changzhou in the Suzhou area. Zhengming was a distant relative of the Song dynasty official Wen Tianxiang, through an ancestor who lived in Hengshan. From this he derived his hao (art name), Hengshan, which he used to sign many of his works. His father Wen Lin and his grandfather Wen Hong (Gongda) were both interested in painting. Wen Lin was also a patron of Tang Yin, Wen Zhengming's contemporary and fellow member of the "Four Masters of the Ming dynasty".

In 1489, Wen Zhengming began studying under Shen Zhou, the eldest of the Four Masters and founder of the Wu school of painting, of which Wen himself later became a leading figure. Zhengming's father Wen Lin died in 1499, while working as prefect of Wenzhou. At Zhengming's request, Shen Zhou provided a written account of Wen Lin's life for the funeral.

Wen Zhengming married the daughter of a high-ranking official and jinshi named Wu Yu around the year 1490. Her uncle was the artist Xia Chang, whose paintings of bamboo may have influenced Wen's own work. Little is known about Wen's wife herself, whose personal name was not recorded. After she died in 1542, Wen painted Wintry Trees after Li Cheng for a guest who arrived with a gift to mourn her death.

Around 1509–1513, Wang Xianchen, a friend of the Wen family, began construction on the Humble Administrator's Garden, generally considered one of China's greatest classical gardens. The garden is the subject of some of Wen Zhengming's poems and paintings, including an album of thirty-one views painted in 1535 and a second of eight views in 1551.

Wen Zhengming's brother Wen Gui died in 1536. Zhengming's eldest son, Wen Peng, was a noted seal-engraver. His second son. Wen Jia, was also an artist, as was his nephew Wen Boren (son of Wen Gui). His great-grandson, Wen Zhenheng, a noted garden designer, rebuilt the Garden of Cultivation in Suzhou. His great-granddaughter, Wen Shu, was a popular and respected professional painter of flowers and insects.

Style

Wen Zhengming was one of a number of Ming dynasty literati artists who set themselves in opposition to the professional, academy-influenced style favored in the region of Zhejiang. Wen and other amateur artists of the Wu school (named after the region around Suzhou, where many of them were based) carried on the wenren (文人) scholar-artist tradition of the preceding dynasties. Eschewing official sponsorship and hostile to the politics of the imperial court, these artists sought private patrons and the respect of their peers, frequently painting works in the style of older masters. Wen studied under the founder of the Wu school, Shen Zhou, whose style he was deeply influenced by. He sometimes added his own poetry to Shen Zhou's paintings, thereby benefitting from the latter's established reputation. After he achieved fame in his own right, Wen's many colophons to Shen Zhou's works often lent them authenticity in the eyes of collectors.

Wen and his mentor both revered the artists of the preceding Song and Yuan dynasties, though he rarely imitated them directly. He produced works in a number of styles, and has been called a "chameleon" whose works could easily be misidentified. Wen's paintings were highly sought after by wealthy collectors throughout the 16th century, and counterfeits of his works were common during the late Ming.

Wen Zhengming was also a prolific and well-known writer, whose poems often touched on the subject of painting. He regarded art and nature as being inseparable, and frequently wrote about and painted nature scenes, as well as private gardens such as the Humble Administrator's Garden.

In addition to his poetry and painting, Wen Zhengming was also known for his calligraphy. As a young man, Zhengming was introduced by his father Wen Lin to a leading calligrapher of the Suzhou area. By 1541, he was thought to be the greatest calligrapher in China, particularly in the kaishu (regular script) and xingshu (semi-cursive script) styles. As a calligrapher, his technique was influenced by that of the Song dynasty master Huang Tingjian.

File:明 文徵明 樓居圖軸-Living Aloft- Master Liu's Retreat MET DP274197.jpg|Living Aloft - Master Liu's Retreat

File:Garden of the Humble Administrator.jpg|One of eight album leaves depicting the Humble Administrator's Garden, painted in 1551

Image:Wen Zhengming painting.jpg

File:Wen Zhengming (Nantoyōsō).JPG

Image:Wintry trees after Li Cheng.jpg|Wintry trees after Li Cheng

Image:CMOC Treasures of Ancient China exhibit - Pi Pa Xing in running script, top view.jpg|Pi Pa Xing in semi-cursive script