唐寅（1470-1523），字伯虎，一字子畏，號六如居士、桃花庵主、逃禪仙吏等，蘇州吳趨里人，與沈周、文徵明、仇英並稱明四大家。孝宗弘治十一年（1498），中試應天府第一名解元。翌年，伴同江陰徐經北上會試，不幸意外捲入一場因朝廷內鬥而衍生的科場舞弊案，因而受累被革黜，從此絕意仕途，終其一生遂致力於繪事，並以繪畫為生。 唐之一生流連詩酒，縱情聲色，自刻有「江南第一風流才子」之印。或許就因為他與青樓女子往來密切，使得他的仕女畫成就不在山水之下。與他同時代的吳偉亦長於以青樓女子為題材的仕女畫，且曾影響唐演。但唐終於發展出屬於自己較為豐富的仕女畫面貌，而且不論工筆與寫意，俱有其多層次的意涵。屬工筆者長於歷史與議論，甚至隱含自身的投影，可謂擺盪於古典與當代，真實與虛妄之間，謹諭兼自嘲，態度雖玩世不恭，筆下卻是一絲不苟的精工洗鍊。屬寫意者則更富創意，他首開風氣將閨怨詩的傳統融入仕女畫中，使畫中仕女成為他畢生所受苦痛不平的代言人，通過他的文學素養與想像力，使得仕女畫終於在裝飾與以色娛人之外，成為文人抒情達意的詩篇，這是唐寅歷史性的成就。

　　　　　T'ang Yin (1470-1523) went by the style names Po-hu and Tzu-wei, and such sobriquests as Liu-ju chu-shih, T'ao-hua an-chu, and T'ao-ch'an hsien-li. A native of Suchow's Wu-ch'u district, he is remembered along with Shen Chou, Wen Cheng-ming, and Ch'iu Ying as one of the Four Masters of the Ming. In 1498, T'ang Yi placed first in the provincial official examination. In the following year, he traveled together with the Chiang-yin native Hsu Ching to Peking to participate in the triennial metropolitan examination. Unfortunately, he became embroiled in an examination scandal effected by factional strife at court. Implicated in the irregularities, T'ang Yin was dismissed from the exam. The scandal marked the end of T'and Yin's pursuit of an official career. From that point on, he dedicated himself to painting and earned his living as a professional painter. A passionate poet and drinker, T'ang Yin lived an uninhibited, hedonistic life, carving for himself a seal that read "The Greatest Romantic Genius of the Southland." His frequent patronage of courtesans possibly contributed to his skill at painting women, which rivaled his skill at landscapes. T'ang Yin was also influenced by his contemporary Wu Wei, who also excelled at painting courtesans. Yet in the end T'and developed his own, diverse approach to the female subject. Both his carefully rendered kung-pi style treatments and more sketchy, freehand hsieh-I paintings reveal richly textured layers of meaning. His kung-pi works are powerfully historic and argumentative, surreptitiously embodying the shadow of the artist's presence. They oscillate between classical and contemporary visions, truth and fantasy, satire and self-mockery. Although they convey a playful irreverence, the brushwork is nonetheless exquisitely meticulous. The hsieh-I paintings are more creative, and signify the beginning of a new trend in the history of Chinese painting whereby the tradition of female grievance poetry was introduced into the painting of female subjects. T'ang Yin turns the women in his paintings into mouthpieces for the bitter experiences of his life. His literary training and imagination transformed paintings of women form mere objects of decoration and sensual amusement into vehicles for the consignment of literati feeling. In this, we see the T'ang Yin's true historic achievement.