The painter of the imperial Art Academy of the Southern Song Dynasty,a native of Yongji,ShanXi province.His style name was Yao Fu and his sobriquet was Qin Shan.He was born in a painting family.Following the style of Li Tang,he fully demonstrated his preeminent talent for painting landscapes,human figures and flower-and-bird. His paintings executed profound strokes and splash ink, especially he was talented in painting scene in margin, so he was called as "Margin Ma". He was honored as one of the Four Great Masters in the southern Song Dynasty.His son,Ma Lin,was also talented in painting.