In this painting, a scholar is crossing a bridge in a deep, snowy valley. Some of the distinctive features of Lan Ying’s paintings can be seen in the refreshing harmony between the magnificent mountains filling the upper portion of the painting, rock forms finely segmented with crisp outlines, and snow flowers painted with layers of white. The Ming Dynasty painter Lan Ying had the courtesy name Tianshu and several sobriquets, which includes Diesou and Shi Toutuo. Active mainly in Qiantang (present-day Hangzhou) in Zhejiang Province, he was a
professional painter yet he demonstrated many of the qualities of a literati painter, who socialized with literati and enjoyed composing poetry and prose. He was also well-versed in painting landscapes. In the early years of his career, Lan imitated the painting styles of masters from the Tang and Song Dynasties. Later, he delved deeply into the style of Huang Gongwang (1269–1354) from the Yuan Dynasty and eventually developed his own distinctive manner. He excelled at creating large-scale paintings marked by vigorous brushwork. He also skillfully painted
figures, birds and flowers, bamboo and plum blossoms, and orchids and rocks.