Tang Yin (唐寅 1470–1524), courtesy name Bohu (伯虎), was a renowned Chinese painter, calligrapher, and poet of the Ming dynasty. Born in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, his father ran a small local restaurant. Tang Yin displayed great talent in academic studies, and in 1485, at the age of only 15, he ranked at the top of the list in the civil service examination in Suzhou, earning a reputation as a genius in Jiangnan (Southern China). He once again secured the first position in the provincial examination in 1498. With high hopes of pursuing an eminent government career, he set off for the national examination in Beijing the following year. However, he became embroiled in a bribery scandal involving the examination officer, leading to his imprisonment and the stripping of all his academic titles. Banned for life from taking civil service examinations, he returned to Suzhou in humiliation. This significant setback nearly shattered him mentally, and he turned to Chan Buddhism for solace. He lived a dissipated life and devoted himself to poetry and painting. To make a living, he had to sell his paintings. At the age of 54, he passed away in poverty and illness.

Tang Yin's talent in painting placed him among the Four Great Artists of Wu, alongside Shen Zhou, Wen Zhengming, and Qiu Ying. Under the guidance of Shen Zhou, his landscape painting combined the techniques of earlier masters such as Li Cheng, Guo Xi, and Li Tang, with the spiritual and artistic expression of a literati painter. He was also one of the few successful figure painters in the Ming dynasty, with a majority of his subjects being beautiful ladies, often prostitutes. His Bird-and-Flower paintings, executed in ink-wash style, effortlessly expressed the internal spiritual world with ease and elegance.