The Chinese painter, calligrapher, and critic Mi Fei (1051-1107) created the "Mi style" of ink-wash landscape painting. He was one of the four greatest calligraphers of the Sung dynasty and among the most influential art critics in Chinese history.

Mi Fei, also called Mi Fu, was born in Hsiang-yang, Hupei Province. He was known as a man of Wu, that is, the south-central region of China called Chiang-nan, "South of the (Yangtze) River." During the reign of Emperor Shentsung (1068-1086), Mi's mother served the future empress, and young Mi was therefore granted special "protégé appointment" to the civil service.

For the next 10 years Mi served in a variety of minor provincial posts, probably devoting most of his energy to the study of calligraphy and the collections of art his travels enabled him to see. During this period he began the connoisseur's notes on painting and...