Geumgang jeondo

Geumgang jeondo (Korean: 금강전도; Hanja: 金剛全圖) is a 1734 landscape painted by Jeong Seon. It was painted during the reign of King Yeongjo, and has since become famous. The title literally means "General view of Mt. Geumgangsan" or The Diamond Mountains). It was classified as the 217th National Treasure of South Korea on August 6, 1984. The painting is currently held and managed by the Ho-Am Art Museum in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province and is owned by Lee Kun-hee. While many contemporaneous painters imitated the latest art trends from China, Jeong Seon ignored these to create unique themes based on Korean landscapes. His catalogue of paintings of Geumgansan made him famous and the preeminent painter of his time at the age of 37. He eventually painted around 100 images of the mountains which still exist to this day. The artist's love of the mountains influenced other artists to depict the Diamond Mountains and even encouraged mapmakers to make maps of the area. Although Jeong Seon made many paintings of Mt. Geumgangsan, this painting is the largest and considered his best. Like many of his paintings, Jeong Seon painted this landscape while viewing the mountains. The painting is 130.7 centimeters in height and 94.1 centimeters in width. It is painted with India ink. The painting is of Naegeumgang, the Inner Mt. Geumgangsan. The painting depicts a total of twelve thousand peaks. The highest peak, Birobong, lies in the background and water flows from it toward a valley called Manpokdong which is divided from the left and right. The high sharp peaks are depicted by the artist with lines painted up and down while the artist used a dotting brush method to depict the earthen peaks, making them appear relatively soft and lush. This composition harmonizes the contrasting sharp edges of the rocky peaks with the softer earthen peaks.