Procession by a Lake

Chinese Qing Dynasty

National Gallery of Art

This painting shows a waterfront viewed from high above. In the background, light blue hills obscure the horizon line. In front of these hills, a stone bridge arches across the water, connecting two sides of a river. Another bridge crosses the river on the right side of the painting. At the bottom of the painting, an ornate procession with lanterns and banners in the shape of large fish takes place close by. Both adults and children are involved in the procession, and the line of people snakes back across the bridge at the right, across the stone bridge, and into the distant hills. On the opposite shore are small buildings with red-tiled roofs, and a tower stands prominently in the background. The procession ends in a large building in the bottom left corner of the image, framed by tall trees. The color palette features warm earth tones with shades of ochre and rust, contrasted by the soft greens of the trees and the blues and grays of the water.