Shen Zhenlin (style name Fengchi), a native of Wuxian (modern Suzhou, Jiangsu) served the Qing court painting academy in the Xianfeng and Tongzhi reigns (1851-1874). He specialized in figures and portraits but was also good at sketching birds and flowers from life as well as landscapes. Famous for his painting, Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908) awarded him a plaque that she personally inscribed: "To a miraculous hand that transmits the spirit."