Why did history leave such two very different portraits?

Zhu Yuanzhang ordered himself to look bad. Why did the painter beautify him?

According to Wu Han's Biography of Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Yuanzhang's appearance is not very decent, especially ugly in his later years, with a face of lost face. I found a lot of painters' portraits, but they didn't agree with me. Finally, a wise man drew a picture with a somewhat similar outline, but with a pleasant face, it was decided, and many copies were handed down and distributed to the kings. These two different portraits have been copied up to now.

The second statement is,

It is said that Zhu Yuanzhang once asked three painters to paint his portrait. The first painter painted Zhu Yuanzhang ugly according to the gourd ladle. It is said that Zhu Yuanzhang's looks are not good-looking. When Zhu Yuanzhang saw it, he painted me so ugly that he killed the painter in a rage. The second painter learned the lesson from the previous painter and painted Zhu Yuanzhang beautifully. Zhu Yuanzhang was unhappy at first sight and felt nothing like him, so he killed the second painter. The third painter was very clever. He heard that Zhu Yuanzhang worshipped Tang Zongsong Zu, so he combined the appearance of Tang Zongsong Zu and added some features of Zhu Yuanzhang's appearance. As a result, Zhu Yuanzhang was very satisfied with the painted portrait, not only did he not kill his head, but also gave him a lot of rewards. The painter was not content when he went back, so he secretly painted the real portrait of Zhu Yuanzhang, so there are two different portraits that have been passed down to later generations.

1. Zhu Yuanzhang faked

In the past, he painted portraits of emperors, just as national leaders now have specialized photographers and imperial painters. There is a very popular folk story about Zhu Yuanzhang's portrait: Zhu Yuanzhang called painters to paint himself after he proclaimed himself emperor. The first painter who entered the palace was very serious, and he painted the portrait vividly and vividly, just like a real person. When Zhu Yuanzhang saw his ugly image, he was furious and pushed the painter out to behead him. The second one learned his lesson, being smart, and painted Zhu Yuanzhang as a handsome man with good looks, regular facial features and good looks. When Zhu Yuanzhang saw that it was himself, he was obviously fooling him, the nature painter born to die. The third is really clever, trying to figure out Zhu Yuanzhang's mind and pursuing "spirit likeness": the face is described almost like a real person, and other parts follow the feelings, just like the photo studio now takes wedding photos of the bride and groom, and it is ambiguous to say yes and no. As a result, Zhu Yuanzhang saw that his face was kind, a pair of emperors, and he was very happy. Needless to say, the painter was rewarded, saved from death and put back home.

There is a message in "folk stories" that Zhu Yuanzhang's appearance is different from that of ordinary people, and he may indeed be out of proportion and out of tune with his five senses, just like Qin Shihuang.

But in that case, why did Zhu Yuanzhang allow these true portraits to spread among the people?

Zhu Yuanzhang's Ming Dynasty was based on expelling "aliens" and saving the people in from the mire. Even though Zhu Yuanzhang kills people like hemp and offends many people, he kills many people who are at fault (he also kills people who commit corruption). Although he lays a heavy hand on them, it is harmless to the people and the world (in a sense). The people should regard him as a god, at least they should respect him very much. How can we allow this ugly portrait of the savior leader to be handed down? Besides, the laws and regulations of the Ming Dynasty were very strict. In those days, you could be arrested for cutting pig grass in front of Zhu Yuanzhang's Xiaoling Mausoleum. What kind of crime is this painting at home? Don't say painting, don't even think about it!

2. What did the Qing people do?

There is only one problem, and that is what future generations, especially the Qing Dynasty, did.

from 1368, when Zhu Yuanzhang proclaimed himself emperor in Yingtian (Nanjing), to 1644, when Li Zicheng's peasant uprising army invaded Beijing, Zhu Youjian jingshan park, a Ming emperor, was forced to hang himself. The 277-year-old Ming Dynasty ended and the Qing Dynasty began. The Qing dynasty was dominated by Manchu people. In 1636, Emperor Taizong of the Qing Dynasty changed the name of the post-Jin regime. In 1644, after Fu Lin, the ancestor of the Qing Dynasty, drove away Li Zicheng and moved the capital to Beijing, the Qing Dynasty began to "tamper with the movement" step by step in several periods. For the need of rule, even the books "A Record of Ming Taizu" were decorated by literati, which vilified the former dynasty and praised the land of the Qing Dynasty for thousands of years. It is conceivable that under this background, Zhu Yuanzhang, who was originally said to be weird and ugly, could hardly escape the end of being "spoofed". A dynasty has fallen, can the founding emperor not be ridiculed?

At present, except for one or two, most versions were painted by the people after the Ming Dynasty, and some versions are extremely imprecise. For example, Zhu Yuanzhang's crown was painted in Qin and Han dynasties, which is the same as that worn by Qin Shihuang and Han Wudi. Obviously, it is a funny painting. And Zhu Yuanzhang's chin is as big as steamed bread. From a physiological point of view, this is impossible unless he has a strange disease.

III. Zhu Yuanzhang fell ill

▲ Comparison between Zhu Yuanzhang's portrait in ming tomb and that of the young monk discovered by experts.

The following paragraphs were fried from the Internet ~~~

Now, medical experts have put forward a new statement. Zhan Huaiyi, director of neurosurgery in Bayi Hospital, judged from his clinical experience that Zhu Yuanzhang's chin is extremely long, his lips are thick and his nose is big ... all these indicate that Zhu Yuanzhang is probably suffering from acromegaly.

■ Guess reason 1: The appearance is too ugly

"After I saw the portrait of Zhu Yuanzhang in ming tomb, my first reaction was that there was something wrong with this face out of professional sensitivity." Zhan Huaiyi, director of neurosurgery department of Bayi Hospital, said, "Judging from Zhu Yuanzhang's face, he is a typical acromegaly patient with a big nose, thick lips and a tilted chin."

experts told reporters that the ancients compared the five mountains to the face, that is, the forehead, nose, chin and two cheekbones. History books describe Zhu Yuanzhang's face as "five mountains facing the sky", that is, these five faces are particularly prominent and fat. Acromegaly, on the other hand, is caused by hyperfunction of glandular cells in the anterior pituitary gland.

The patients with this disease are generally 3-4 years old, with enlarged hands and feet, enlarged face, bulging eyebrow arch, zygomatics and mandible (five mountains), enlarged ears and nose, rough teeth, hypertrophy of lips and tongue, and increasingly ugly appearance. In addition, there can be symptoms such as hunchback, lumbar lordosis, rough skin and hyperthyroidism, and even the posture is deformed and ugly.

However, Zhan Huaiyi also said that the portrait of Zhu Yuanzhang alone is not enough to diagnose whether he really suffers from acromegaly, because the characteristics of this disease are not limited to the face, but also the hands and feet will become bigger. But from the portrait, Zhu Yuanzhang's hands and feet are not bulky.

"nowadays, to judge whether you have acromegaly or not, you have to look at whether you have pituitary adenoma in your brain by magnetic resonance imaging. However, the ancient medical level was backward, and it was impossible to verify whether Zhu Yuanzhang had a tumor in his brain since middle age. We can only analyze Zhu Yuanzhang's condition through some files of the Ming Dynasty. " Zhan Huaiyi said.

■ Guess reason 2: disguised in the middle

Regarding Zhu Yuanzhang's appearance, Liu Wei, a 76-year-old figure in Nanjing cultural and art circles, also raised his doubts. "I found a portrait of Zhu Yuanzhang as a young monk in Records of Emperors in China. In this picture, Zhu Yuanzhang's face is full and his facial features are correct, so I wonder how Zhu Yuanzhang looked so different when he was young?"

"If these two portraits are true, then it can be inferred that Zhu Yuanzhang suffered from acromegaly in middle age." Zhan Huaiyi said that the most typical feature of a person suffering from acromegaly is that his face has changed and become more and more ugly. "We often have such patients in our hospital. They used to look good, but in a few years, their faces are like magic tricks. Their faces are longer, their lips are thicker, their noses are bigger, and their teeth are getting bigger and bigger."

■ Guess reason 3: grumpy

Experts told reporters that Zhu Yuanzhang was anxious, murderous, and killed more and less, completely depending on his own mood changes. So, is this grumpy personality also related to acromegaly?

Zhan Huaiyi told reporters that a person's bad temper or bad mood is not necessarily caused by acromegaly. However, patients with acromegaly will suffer from memory loss and emotional anxiety because pituitary tumors in the brain press the nerves at the bottom of the frontal lobe. Plus, as you get ugly, your temper will get worse, and you will be furious if you are a little unhappy.

fourth, genetic inheritance tells everything?

friends who have seen the portraits of Zhu Yuanzhang's descendants may think that the handsome one may be a little bigger, because according to the 24 portraits of his descendants, none of them are big-faced, but more like the handsome one, such as Zhu Di's portrait.

But I guess it won't be ugly. Otherwise, how could Guo Zixing, the rich king who started an uprising in Haozhou, marry his adopted daughter Ma Xiuying to a poor monk who wanted money but had no money and didn't look good? Besides, looks will be inherited. Zhu Yuanzhang has 24 sons, including Zhu Biao and Zhu Di. Why is there no one among so many "dragons" with fat ears and big chin who looks like him? Judging from the portraits of Ming emperors, none of them look like this. On the contrary, they are similar to Zhu Yuanzhang's standard portraits. Therefore, the real Zhu Yuanzhang is not far from the standard image. One day, if Zhu Yuanzhang's Mausoleum Mausoleum is opened, find its remains and deal with them with modern computer three-dimensional restoration technology, the truth will come out and everything will be OK!