Wolganchangseok Brothers Geumnando Painting

This painting depicts the brotherly devotion between Yi Jeon (pen name Wolgan) and his younger brother Yi Jun (pen name Changseok); it measures 21.5 cm in width and 29 cm in height. In the spring of 1593, the twenty-sixth year of King Seonjo and the year after the Japanese invasions of Korea began, Yi Jun, too ill to move on his own, begged his elder brother to flee alone and preserve the family line. Instead of granting his brother's request, Yi Jeon braved the danger and carried him on his back all the way to the summit of Baekhwasan Mountain, where the two barely managed to survive. Later, when Yi Jun travelled to Ming China and told the Chinese this story, they were so moved that they had a court painter depict the scene. Set against the backdrop of Baekhwasan Mountain, the painting shows Japanese soldiers camped at the foot of the mountain advancing on the brothers with spears and swords as the elder brother sets off carrying the younger on his back; the elder brother setting his brother down to aim a bow at the enemy; and the elder brother running toward the summit while carrying his brother once more. Once the painting was completed, Yi Jun asked prominent contemporaries to compose poems and prose, which were appended after it as a supplement. Although it was painted by a Chinese artist, the painting alone conveys the depth of the brothers' devotion, and the poems and prose by scholars appended after it are likewise beautiful and precious.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Sangju, Gyeongbuk

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산