Fan Kuan completed Traveling amid Mountains and Gorges about the year who never sat the civil service exams and was still alive during the Tiansheng period (1023-1032) of Emperor Ren Zong's reign, we know little about him for certain. It is conjectured that he was a Shaanxi native, whose life spanned from the middle of the 10th century until early in the 11th.
西元一千年左右，畫家范寬完成了曠世鉅作《谿山行旅圖》。作為一個不曾參加科考的民間畫家，他的生卒年後人無法得知，只知道他在仁宗天聖年間（西元 1023－1032 年）還在世，推測應該是十世紀中到十一世紀初的陝西人氏。