An ongoing exhibition at the National Museum of China features a selection of reproductions of Dunhuang murals by the late Zhang Daqian, the maestro of traditional Chinese ink-brush painting. Zhang lived in Dunhuang for nearly three years in the early 1940s, copying murals at the Mogao and Yulin grottoes. [PHOTO BY JIANG DONG/CHINA DAILY]

Zhang invested a lot of time studying works of preceding painters, especially those during the Song (960-1279), Yuan (1271-1368) and Ming (1368-1644) dynasties. His genius for copying paintings by the old masters is widely acknowledged, and the quality of his reproductions successfully fooled classical painting experts of his time, and continue to do so today.

A number of murals in Dunhuang were painted by the great masters of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), a peak era for Chinese art and Buddhism. This ignited an intense interest in Zhang who hoped to learn the classical methods of painting from these masters.

It took Zhang more than a month to travel from Chengdu to Dunhuang. He was accompanied by family members, helpers and student painters who took with them tons of supplies. They had to overcome transportation difficulties－their carts often broke down and they were forced to ride on camels for much of the trip－and they had to cross regions that were infested with bandits.

The fear and exhaustion were soon replaced by a sense of astonishment that overwhelmed Zhang and his group when they saw the murals illuminated with the lamps they had brought. He realized he would have to extend his trip and ended up staying two years and seven months.