Cao Ba

You’ve earned more honor as an artist than when you a general in the army. Other generals have been demoted, but your fame will never be forgotten. When you paint a horse you paint its bones as well as its hide. When your horses are held up to the light, we see their manes moving in the breeze. Their spirits are the spirits of dragons; ordinary horses are washed away. The emperor may have rewarded you, but that was only for a moment. Now you may be living on the street, but your art is eternal.