明代画家马轼生平四题——兼谈马愈的生卒年问题

Four Questions About the Life of Ming Dynasty Painter Ma Shi:Also on His Son Ma Yu's Year of Birth and Death

马轼是浙派前期的重要画家,出生于明初军户家庭,其祖父马光大是元代的千户,其父名彦和。马轼的祖先当是元代的色目人,他很可能是元代后期政治家买述丁的后裔。马轼约生于洪武末年至建文初年,卒于天顺三年(1459年)前后,约在永乐后期进入钦天监。马轼虽然擅长绘画,且与李在等宫廷画家有交往,但实际上是以天文占卜之术供职于钦天监,并非宫廷画家。马轼第三子马愈是天顺六年举人,天顺八年成进士,生于宣德十年(1435年)六月四日,约卒于弘治初年。马愈小沈周八岁,二人交好,绘画上互有影响,但沈周对他的影响更大一些。

Ma Shi was an important painter in the early stage of Zhe School painting.Born into a military family in the early Ming dynasty,his grandfather Ma Guangda ranked qianhu(commander of a thousand military households)in the Yuan dynasty,and his father's name was Ma Yanhe.Ma Shi's ancestors should be the Semu people of the Yuan dynasty,and he is likely a descendant of the late Yuan dynasty politician Mai Shuding.Ma Shi was born between the end of the Hongwu reign and the beginning of the Jjianwen reign,and passed away around the third year of the Tianshun reign(1459).He entered the Bureau of Astronomy around the late Yongle period.Although Ma Shi was skilled in painting and had connections with court painters such as Li Zai,in stead of working as a court painter,he worked for the Bureau of Astronomy through astronomical divination.Ma Yu,the third son of Ma Shi,was a juren in the sixth year of the Tianshun reign and a jinshi in the eighth year of the Tianshun reign.He was born on June 4th in the tenth year of the Xuande reign(1435)and passed away around the beginning of the Hongzhi reign.Ma Yu was eight years younger than Shen Zhou;they made good friends and influenced mutually in painting,but obviously Shen Zhou was more influential on Ma Yu.