In the midst of this thick autumn forest under a peculiarly shaped mountain, a scholar leans against a rock and gazes at a waterfall while listening to the sound. According to the postscript, Wu Li (sobriquet: Mojing Daoren) created this painting by following the style of Juran, a landscape painter from the Song Dynasty. Simple depictions and varying inktones distinctive to ink-and-wash painting are employed
here in a harmonious manner, all the characteristic of Wu Li.
Wu Li studied painting under Wang Shimin (1592–1680), who carried on the painting style of the late Ming Dynasty and impacted painting circles during the early Qing period. Wu created works that were ahead of his time by borrowing shading and perspective from the Western painting. After his mother and his wife passed away in the year he turned thirty-one, he sought comfort in religion. At first, he was attracted to Buddhism and then later he was introduced to Catholicism from the West. He was officially baptized and became a Catholic priest at the age of fifty-one. Afterwards, he rarely engaged in painting and devoted himself to missionary work for the remaining thirty years of his life.