至於佛教人物畫方面，本文將討論虛谷僅存的兩件羅漢畫作品，這兩件作品都承襲了貫休羅漢畫的風格，虛谷均以杭州聖因寺的石刻拓本為範本進行創作。本文透過文獻的解讀與作品風格的分析，希望對於虛谷其人其藝有更全面的了解。; Xu Gu, one of the famous painters of the Shanghai School in the late Qing, was good at landscape painting, bird-and-flower painting and figure painting. However, most studies on Xu Gu focus on his bird-and-flower paintings and animal paintings, and very few on Xu Gu's figure paintings. Based on historical records and comments by contemporaries on his works of calligraphy and painting, this thesis will concentrate on his figure painting and provide new information on his life and personal circle. To specify the characteristics of his figure painting style, I will examine his “portrait” and “Buddhism” painting.
Most of Xu Gu's portrait paintings were created for his literati friends and monks; only one was for a woman. Xu Gu adopted Zeng Jing's style. He may have used photographs as references in order to depict his friends' faces. This thesis will investigate the differences in portraiture between Xu Gu and other painters like Ren Bonian, and find out which school he followed. For his Buddhist figure paintings, I will discuss only two existing Lohan paintings. Both of them present the traditional iconography seen in Guan Xiu's Lohan, which had been carved in stone at Shengyin Temple in Hangzhou and then distributed through rubbings.
