The earliest portrait of Yue Fei is Liu Songnian's "Four Generals of Zhongxing" in the Southern Song Dynasty. From left to right, Yue Fei's attendants and Yue Fei, Zhang Jun's attendants and Zhang Jun are in order, and the second person in the painting is Yue Fei. Judging from the painting, Yue Fei has a white face and no beard, slightly fat, large ears and a round face, a square scarf on his head, pointed boots on his feet, and a light green outfit, standing with his hands. This is very different from the seated statues of Yue Fei in various Yue temples at present. The picture shows the image of Yue Fei in the "Four Generals of ZTE".
In the thirty-second year of Shaoxing of the Southern Song Dynasty (1162), since Emperor Xiaozong of Song, Zhao Shen, rehabilitated Yue Fei, various portraits and statues of Yue Fei began to be scattered among the people. Among them, the most standard portrait is the statue of each Yue Temple: wearing a red ribbon helmet, wearing a purple python robe, with golden armor on his arms, wearing martial boots, holding a fist in his right hand and stroking forward, pressing his sword backwards with his left hand, and his eyes are like torches, staring into the distance." The image handed down from the temple, Yue Fei has a melon face, his eyebrows are inverted, his face is handsome, and his heroism is compelling, it should be Yue Fei in people's minds for thousands of years. The picture shows the image of Yue Fei built in the temple.
Liu Songnian lived in a time not far from Yue Fei, and some people who had seen Yue Fei were still there, so his portrait should have a certain credibility. Ruan Yuan, a Qing dynasty man, had also seen this painting, and he said in the "Shiqu Essays" volume 3 "Liu Song Zhongxing Four Generals": "Yue Fei has a large and square face, a wide forehead and thin eyebrows, very rich cheeks, round eyes and the tip of the nose, from the mouth down, heavy and long, no beard." The picture shows the statue of Yue Fei in front of the Yue Temple.
Yue Fei is said to be "big and small eyes" (i.e. one eye is large and one eye is small). In 1141, the Southern Song Dynasty reached a reconciliation with Jin. In 1142, jin sent people to send gaozong's biological mother, Concubine Wei Xianfei, and the coffin of Emperor Huizong of Song to China according to the terms of reconciliation. On the way, Princess Wei Xianfei once asked her retinue, "How about General Big and Small Eyes?" The retinue replied, "Yue Fei is dead." From this we can know that Yue Fei is a "big and small eye" general. This was probably the derogatory term for Yue Fei by the generals in the Jin camp. The picture shows a portrait of Yue Fei drawn by people according to Yue Fei's large and small eyes.
Yue Fei's height should be around 1.7 meters. Because in 1124, when the Northern Song Dynasty recruited soldiers, they measured their height with wooden poles marked with scales, and at that time there were hard requirements for height: for example, the First Army of Tianwu (infantry) must be 5 feet 8 inches, the Dragon Guard Army (cavalry) must be 5 feet 7 inches, the Shenwei Army (infantry) must be 5 feet 4 inches, and the Weiyuan Army (cavalry) must be 5 feet 3 inches and 5 inches. Yue Fei was assigned to the Guangrui Army of cavalry, and its height requirement for soldiers was five feet and five inches, which was about 169 centimeters according to the conversion of one Song ruler equal to 30.72 centimeters today. The picture shows the portrait of Yue Fei that has been handed down, which is also the closest to Yue Fei that experts believe.
Judging from the records, Yue Fei's appearance is not a bearded man, and his size is similar to that of Huang Xiaoming, who plays Yue Fei, but experts say that the real Yue Fei is not as handsome as Huang Xiaoming. The picture shows the stills of Yue Fei played by Huang Xiaoming.
In everyone's mind, what is the image of Yue Fei, a hero of the ages? Speak out in the comments section below to discuss it.