Tang calligrapher and official whose bold regular script, 颜体, is the style most Chinese learners copy first. His draft eulogy for a nephew killed in the An Lushan rebellion, 祭侄文稿, is a famous running-script work.
Xué shūfǎ de rén dōu línmó guò Yán Zhēnqīng de zì tiè.
Everyone who studies calligraphy has copied Yan Zhenqing's model books.
Tips
history
The eulogy, crossings-out and all, is ranked 天下第二行书, 'the second-best running script under heaven', after 王羲之's 兰亭序. In 785 he was strangled on the orders of the rebel 李希烈, whom he had refused to join.
culture
His 颜体 is usually learned from the 多宝塔碑 (Duobao Pagoda Stele), a favourite first copybook. With 欧阳询, 柳公权 and 赵孟頫 he makes up the 楷书四大家, the four great masters of regular script.
