What is the role of butterflies flying after horses hooves

It can fully express the lingering fragrance left after the horse's hooves are trampled through the flowers.

During the Song Dynasty, there was a recruitment examination for the academy. The exam is a proposition painting, and the title is an ancient poem: "Stepping on flowers and returning to horseshoe incense".

The exam room was very quiet, and the candidates were all thinking about it. Some people think that the focus of the poem is on the word "stepping on flowers". So he drew some petals and asked a young man to walk on a horse. He thought, isn't this just stepping flowers? It shows the happy mood after the spring outing.

Some, after analysis, feel that the focus is on the "horse". Whether it is stepping on flowers, returning or returning, or horses' hooves, they are all inseparable from "horses". So he carefully drew a horse, and a young man rode on a horse galloping through the flowers, which looked very imposing.

Some people think that the "horseshoe" should be the focus, so they highlight the horse's hooves in the air on the drawing paper, and draw the flying petals next to the "horseshoe". He thought that the petals were raised, and the horse's hooves would not be "fragrant"!

Among the many candidates, there was only one who drew something very special, named Li Tang. There were no flower petals on his scroll. He painted:

As the sun sets, a handsome young man rides on a horse. The horses were galloping, their hooves raised high, and some butterflies were chasing after each other, fluttering around the hooves.

After Li Tang handed in the papers, the examiners selected them one by one. When he saw the picture of butterflies, he smiled heartily. This painting was rated as the best.

Why is it best? The examiner made a comment, and the candidates were very impressed.

The key to this candidate's success lies in his careful analysis of the topic, his comprehensive understanding of the meaning of the poem, and his finding of an ingenious way to reflect the meaning of the question.

Remark; Li Tang: (c. 1050-1130) was an outstanding painter of the Song Dynasty. The word ancient.

He was born in Heyang San (now Mengxian County, Henan). It was originally the Northern Song Dynasty Painting Academy. After leaving the chaos, he went to the streets of Lin'an to sell paintings, was discovered by an internal official, and later re-entered the art academy.

His painting method is far after Li Sixun, turning into a small axe and creating a big axe, the brushwork is extraordinary, making people have a sense of "God is stunned" and creating a new style of landscape painting in the Southern Song Dynasty. He is also good at painting figures, such as "The Restoration of the Kingdom of Jin Wen" and "Cai Wei Tu". After arriving in the Southern Song Dynasty, in order to praise the Jin soldiers, he painted "Snow Day Grain Transport" and so on.

I like to make a long picture of the big mountain, the dangerous peak cuts the wall, and it has the potential of a thousand zhang. The painting of the characters and the pavilion are neatly depicted. Painting landscapes is particularly interesting.

His works include "Yangtze River Snow Ji Picture", "Solo Fishing Returning to Zhuang Picture", "Tiger Creek Three Laughing Picture", "Xiangshan Nine Old Pictures", "Gao Yi Picture", "Ten Thousand Pine Wind Pictures", "Snow Scenes", "Snow River Pictures", "Small Scenery Pictures on the River" and so on.