Cheng Hongshou (陈洪绶 1598-1652) was a celebrated Chinese painter and poet in the late Ming dynasty. Born in Zhuji, Zhejiang province, he displayed exceptional talent in poetry, calligraphy, and especially in painting and woodblock printmaking from a young age.

In 1642, he spent a year in Beijing serving as a court painter, but he soon left the post due to disillusionment with the corruption in the court. When the Ming dynasty fell, he became a monk, adopting the Dharma names ‘Belated Repentance’ and ‘Late-Coming Monk’ to avoid the Qing troops. Later on, he returned to secular life and began selling his paintings in Hangzhou. He passed away at the age of 59.

Cheng Hongshou was well-versed in poetry and demonstrated his talents in all painting genres, including landscape, figure, and bird-and-flower painting. His early style was greatly influenced by Lan Ying, but later he drew inspiration from earlier ancient masters. He often depicted exaggerated and distorted images in his figure and bird-and-flower paintings, which were both revolutionary and original, exerting a significant influence on later artists.