Lin Xue

Lin Xue (Chinese: 林雪), also known by her courtesy name Lin Tiansu (Chinese: 林天素), was a Chinese poet, painter, and calligrapher during the Ming dynasty, noted for her landscape paintings. Lin lived by the West Lake in Hangzhou, where she worked as a courtesan until her marriage into a respectable family. Lin drew the attention of leading poets and painters of the time, including Li Liufang and Dong Qichang. She painted in the latter's Southern School style, and is described as having a fluid hand with a feminine sensibility. Her landscape album of 1621 contained copies of earlier masterworks, which were deemed exquisite by critics due to how closely they resembled the originals.