Gao Tao

b. 1100 — d. 1199

Gao Tao 高燾 was a twelfth-century northern artist from Mianzhou 沔州 (present-day Lueyang 略陽 county) in Shaanxi 陝西 province. He was recorded... as a "reclusive gentleman" (yanxue shangshi 巖穴上士) particularly known for paintings of intimate scenes that were "pure and remote, tranquil and profound," and of themes such as "sleeping ducks, floating geese, decaying willows and withered stalks."