Song Si-yeol Portrait

This is a portrait of Song Si-yeol (1607-1689, sobriquet Uam), currently kept by the Seonsan Gwak clan. According to the record in the Register of Yongmun Seodang, written by Song Geun-su in 1943, which states that a portrait shrine hall (yeongdang) was built in 1697, the jeongchuk year of King Sukjong, with the village school (seodang) serving as its lodging hall, and according to the Record of the Renovation of Yongmun Seodang, written by Gwak Su-hwan around 1920 when the school was renovated, which records that a shrine building was erected to the east of the original school to enshrine a true-form portrait (jinsang) and the school used as a lodging hall, it is clear that a portrait existed from around 1697, though it cannot be confirmed whether the present painting is that original. The Register of Yongmun Seodang states only that "among the old relics in the hall there is a single register of names since its founding, and the album of the royal-brushwork stele rubbing for the Daero Shrine and the plaque of the portrait hall, handed down within the shrine, are kept enshrined here," without mentioning the earlier portrait, so it cannot be confirmed whether the original was re-enshrined or a new one made. After Song Si-yeol's death, numerous portrait shrine halls and seowon (Confucian academies) were built in his memory, where portraits of him were enshrined and venerated with rites; the Yongmun Yeongdang in Okcheon is one of these. Song Si-yeol's portrait, regarded as a representative example of late-Joseon scholar-official portraiture, exists in many copies based on three true-form portraits painted during his lifetime, and the painting handed down in Okcheon is one of five versions known to survive today. It is a half-length portrait in colour on silk, measuring 97 cm by 57 cm, mounted and kept in a frame. The silk support is creased in several places and the pigment has flaked off extensively, leaving the painting in very poor condition overall; the flaking is especially severe in the lower part of the painting, and the eyes in the face have suffered considerable damage. The version held by the Seonsan Gwak clan of Okcheon is noted as an interesting example that combines two existing versions: it follows the overall format of the version held by the National Museum of Korea, but imitates the facial depiction of the version at the Hwanggang Yeongdang in Jecheon, which shows the subject wearing a sabangmo (a square scholar's cap), as well as that version's manner of depicting costume, in which the collar of the simui robe and the lines of the sleeves form an X shape. The coarse, dark eyebrows, the white beard, and even the wrinkles rendered in brown lines have all been faithfully copied; the lines of the wrinkles express the uneven bone structure of the face, and shading (seonyeom) has been added, bringing out well the stern character and bearing of a rigorous Confucian scholar. Such facial depiction, in which the expressive function of line is emphasised, is characteristic of the portrait style of the late seventeenth century. It is thought that when the Yongmun Yeongdang was founded in 1697, the painter combined the National Museum version and the Hwanggang Yeongdang version of Jecheon to produce the portrait, and that the present Okcheon version may be a faithful copy of that painting; the actual date of production of this copy is thought to be around the time the Yongmun Seodang was renovated, after the shrine was damaged in 1871. Although a copy, it is valued as an accomplished work that conveys well the dignity of its subject.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Okcheon, Chungbuk

Designation

Cultural Heritage Material · 문화유산자료