Ode to Painting, for General Cao Ba
English translation and interpretation are being reviewed.
于今为庶为清门。
英雄割据虽已矣，
文采风流今尚存。
学书初学卫夫人，
但恨无过王右军。
丹青不知老将至，
富贵于我如浮云。
开元之中常引见，
承恩数上南薰殿。
凌烟功臣少颜色，
将军下笔开生面。
良相头上进贤冠，
猛将腰间大羽箭。
褒公鄂公毛发动，
英姿飒爽来酣战。
先帝天马玉花骢，
画工如山貌不同。
是日牵来赤墀下，
迥立阊阖生长风。
诏谓将军拂绢素，
意匠惨澹经营中。
斯须九重真龙出，
一洗万古凡马空。
玉花却在御榻上，
榻上庭前屹相向。
至尊含笑催赐金，
圉人太仆皆惆怅。
弟子韩干早入室，
亦能画马穷殊相。
干惟画肉不画骨，
忍使骅骝气凋丧。
将军画善盖有神，
必逢佳士亦写真。
即今漂泊干戈际，
屡貌寻常行路人。
途穷反遭俗眼白，
世上未有如公贫。
但看古来盛名下，
终日坎壈缠其身。
English translation
General, you are descended from Emperor Wu of Wei, and are now a commoner, of a house both poor and honest.
The heroes who carved out their kingdoms are gone, but your learning and grace still remain to this day.
You began your study of calligraphy with Lady Wei, and only grieved that you could not surpass Wang Youjun.
Painting kept you unaware that old age was coming, for wealth and rank are to you as drifting clouds.
In the Kaiyuan era you were often granted audience, and more than once in favor mounted the Southern Fragrance Hall.
The meritorious ministers of Lingyan had lost their color, until your brush, General, gave them a new face.
The good ministers wear upon their heads the Cap of Worthies, the fierce generals at their waists the great plumed arrows.
The Duke of Bao and the Duke of E seem to stir, hair and all, their heroic bearing brisk and gallant, come to fierce battle.
The late emperor's heavenly horse, Jade Blossom Piebald, a mountain of painters could not capture its likeness.
That day it was led beneath the red steps, standing far off at the heavenly gate, it bred a living wind.
The edict bade you, General, to sweep the plain silk, and with designing art and painful care you worked upon it.
In a moment a true dragon came forth from the ninefold depths, washing away in one stroke ten thousand ages of common horses.
And Jade Blossom appeared, there upon the imperial couch, upon the couch and in the court, standing face to face.
The supreme one smiled, and pressed that gold be granted, while the grooms and the master of the stables were all cast down.
Your pupil Han Gan early entered the inner chamber, and can also paint horses to the utmost of their aspect.
But Gan paints the flesh and not the bone, and lets the noble courser's spirit wither away.
Your skill in painting, General, must come of a spirit within, and meeting a worthy man, you would paint him true.
Now, adrift in a time of war, you often paint the faces of ordinary passers-by.
At the road's end you meet the white of vulgar eyes, for no one in the world is so poor as you.
Yet consider: beneath the great names of old, misfortune has clung to their bodies all their days.
Meaning
General Cao is descended from Cao Cao, Emperor Wu of Wei; yet now he has fallen to the state of a common man, a house of humble station.
The age of heroes who carved out their own domains is gone, never to return; but the literary grace of the Cao house still lives on in you.
In your youth you learned calligraphy in the manner of Lady Wei, and grieved only that you did not surpass the General of the Right, Wang Xizhi.
All your life you have given yourself to painting and never marked that age was coming on; glory and wealth are to you as floating clouds in the sky.
In the Kaiyuan years you were often summoned into the presence of Emperor Xuanzong; bearing his grace, you mounted time and again the Nanxun Hall.
The portraits of the meritorious ministers in the Lingyan Pavilion had faded with the years; you took up the brush and painted them anew in a different guise.
The good ministers all wear upon their heads the cap of the worthy; the fierce generals all carry at their belts the great-feathered arrows.
The hair of the Dukes of Bao and E seems to bristle, their martial bearing so vivid that they appear locked in fierce combat.
In the Kaiyuan era the heavenly charger of the late emperor was named Jade-Flower Piebald,
Background
Read the background
Cao Ba was a great master of horse painting in the High Tang who made his name during the Kaiyuan era of Emperor Xuanzong. During the Tianbao era he painted the "imperial horses" and repaired the portraits of meritorious officials in Lingyan Pavilion. In the last years of Emperor Xuanzong's reign he gave offense, was struck from the rolls, and became a commoner. After the An Lushan Rebellion he fell into poverty and drifted from place to place. In 764, the second year of the Guangde era of Emperor Daizong of Tang, Du Fu met Cao Ba at Chengdu, and out of deep sympathy for his lot wrote this "Lay of Painting: To General Cao Ba."