West Lake Atlas Dynasty

Before the invention of cameras and vedio cassette recorders, the best way to store the people and events is to paint. Painting is always lifelike so that it can not easily replaced by words. During China's ancient histories, large amount of artists are recruited by the royal families to paint people, events and nature, which is most frequently seen in Qing Dynasty.This paper, Analysis of the Album of Ten Sites in West Lake, mainly expresses my views on the characteristics, the theme and the historical development of the album of the ten sites on the basis of historical documents, ancient paintings and first hand profiles. Besides, the functions and contents of the album are also analyzed in this paper by means of comparison.The Album of Ten Sites in West Lake is of brilliant colors, outstanding themes and unique features.It shows ten of the eighteen scenic sites in West Lake built by the Head of Zhejiang Province, Li Wei, during the Qing Dynasty. The themes described and the techniques used varies greatly from the common landscape paintings. It describes the real things existing instead of the artist's wild imaginings; it continues the painting features of the Nansong Dynasty while presenting the painting techniques of the early Qing Dynasty. The theme of this album is fundamentally in line with the book the History of the West Lake writtenby Li Wei, so we can conclude that this album is a masterpiece about the natural beauty of the West Lake by the court artists after Li Wei's building and adding of the eighteen sites.