Still life: More than 200 paintings by renowned Qing Dynasty artists Ju Chao and Ju Lian will be displayed at the Museum of Art from October 31 to February 1.

More than 200 paintings by renowned Qing Dynasty artists Ju Chao and Ju Lian will be displayed at the Museum of Art from October 31 to February 1. The collection comes from local and Guangdong museums.

Known as the "two Jus", cousins Ju Chao (1811-1865) and Ju Lian (1828-1904) were deeply inspired by the "boneless" style practised by earlier masters in still life paintings and the meticulously realistic bird and flower paintings of the Song Dynasty.

They also invented the ingenious water and powder infusion methods, bringing out most convincingly the tonal gradation, light and shade and the turgidity most suited for depicting the plants and insects in the Lingnan, or Guangdong, area.

The microcosmic world inhabited by plants, birds, fish and insects indigenous to the Pearl River Delta where the artists called home makes up the bulk of their extant small paintings.

The exhibition - Strolling in the Fragrant Garden: Paintings of Ju Chao & Ju Lian - presents a fine selection of the two Jus' works, to review their artistic accomplishments and mark the 180th anniversary of Ju Lian's birth.

The museum will also organise three Cantonese lectures on the two Jus' paintings, on November 1, 15 and 29 from 2.30pm to 4.30pm. For details, click here or call 2721 0116.