Hua Yan was born in Shanghang, Fujian, in 1682 during the reign of Qing dynasty’s Kangxi Emperor. He left home at 22 for Hangzhou and devoted himself to poetry, painting, and calligraphy, eventually becoming an all-around artist with considerable literary talent. This "Album of Sketches from Life" is a fascinating masterpiece of painting entrusted to the National Palace Museum in Taipei from the Lanqian Shanguan collection. It is actually mounted as two separate albums, each containing twelve leaves. Judging from a combination of evidence, such as painting technique, style of calligraphy, and use of seals, the two albums are most likely Hua Yan's late work from after the age of sixty. The album leaves present a wide range of figural, bird, insect, animal, and aquatic subject matter. Truly encompassing and illustrating a spectrum of themes, the forms fully reveal the artist's own personal disposition, in contrast to a mere pursuit to capture the appearance of things. The albums in their entirety are being specially presented in this gallery (http://www.npm.gov.tw/en/visiting/exhibit/exhibit_04.htm?docno=824), offering audiences a uniquely rich and dazzling aesthetic experience from the brush of Hua Yan. The exhibition will end on September 25, 2012.