Wen Shu was a fourth-generational descendant of Wen Zhengming (1479-1559), the leading painter of Suzhou. She was the great granddaughter of Wen Jia (1574-1648). The Wen family was an illustrious one in the Wu region, having produced many talented artists without interruption from the Song dynasty. Among the literary gentry the Wen family was regarded as preserving the highest moral standards. Education was an essential part of the disciplined training in Wen family life and Wen Shu, together with her brother, Wen Ran (1596-1667), began to paint when she was a child. Before she was twenty years old, Wen Shu was married to Zhao Jun (died 1640), a student of her father and descendent of another old distinguished family. The marriage was a congenial one; Wen Shu and Zhao Jun were devoted to each other and respected their separate interests in painting and etymology. As the inheritance from both the Wen and Zhao families diminished, Zhao Yun, who had never worked and detested having to attend to financial affairs, simply indulged himself in connoisseurship. Wen Shu assumed responsibility for their livelihood and became a professional painter. The fame of her forebears must have helped Wen Shu to retain her dignity, even as a woman engaged in the art profession. She achieved great success. There was so much demand for her work that Wen Shu had to train some maids as assistants and unscrupulous artists took advantage of her fame by producing forgeries even during her lifetime. Wen Whu excelled in painting unusual flowers and small insects, capturing their likeness in meticulous detail. Inspired by illustrated Bencan, or books on Chinese herbal medicine, she worked in the same manner, striving for precise identification. . .