Emperor Huizong of Song

Huizong, personal name Zhao Ji, was the eighth emperor of the Song dynasty, reigning from 1100 to 1126, and one of the most gifted artists ever to sit on the Chinese throne. He ran the imperial painting academy, built up a vast art collection and invented the slender gold style of calligraphy. His paintings of birds and flowers, such as Auspicious Cranes in the Liaoning Provincial Museum, are precise and elegant. After the Jurchen captured his capital in 1127 he died a prisoner in the far north.