정조대 書風 변화와 書體反正

국문 초록 (Abstract)

조선후기 문예 중흥기를 이끌었던 정조는 세손 시절부터 신료들을 뛰어넘는 학문과 문예를 갖추고자 많은 노력을 하였다. 그리하여 학문과 문예뿐만 아니라 서예에서도 뛰어난 능력을 갖추게 되었다. 즉위 이후 外戚을 멀리하고 사림을 등용하는 정책을 펼치고 학문 정치를 표방하며 奎章閣을 설치하였다. 정조는 이들과 함께 학문 및 문예의 다양한 분야에 걸쳐 서적 편찬 사업을 대규모로 진행하였다.

정조는 학문 군주답게 󰡔弘齋全書󰡕라는 방대한 분량의 문집을 남겼다. 스스로 만백성 위에 군림하는 임금이자 스승의 역할까지 수행하는 ‘君師’임을 문집으로써 입증한 것이다. 이같은 자신감을 바탕으로 정조는 즉위 초부터 꾸준히 제기되어 오던 文風 문제를 표면화시켜 反正을 추진하였다. 당시의 문체가 兩亂 이후 유행하게 된 明淸의 稗官小說類와 新體文 그리고 西學에 젖어 들어 크게 변질되었다고 판단했기 때문이다. 이를 ‘文體反正’이라고 한다. 정조는 이같은 조치를 통해 조선의 문체를 국초의 질박한 문풍으로 회귀시키고자 하였다.

정조는 문체의 반정에만 만족하지 않았다. 당시 중국의 순정치 못한 서풍을 받아 들여 크게 유행시킨 尹淳의 ‘時體’와 조선의 서풍을 강력히 비판하였다. 그런 후 서풍이 순박하였던 국초의 安平大君(1418～1453)과 韓濩(1543～1605)의 시대로 서체를 되돌리고자 여러 조치들을 취하였다. 이를 ‘書體反正’이라고 한다. 정조의 이러한 문화 정책은 문체와 서체에만 국한된 것이 아니라 음악 정책의 樂風과 규장각 자비대령화원을 통한 畵風도 자신의 주관대로 바꾸고자 하였다.

정조는 확고한 書藝觀을 지니고 있었다. 唐 柳公權의 ‘心正則筆正論’과 前漢 揚雄의 ‘心畵論’에 깊이 공감하고 매번 서예를 논할 때마다 언급하였다. 세손 시절부터 서법 수련을 착실히 하여 조선시대 역대 군왕 중에서 가장 뛰어난 필법 능력을 갖추게 되었다. 선대 왕인 영조의 서풍을 학습한 후에 醇正書體라고 인식한 唐 顏眞卿, 유공권, 宋 蘇軾, 元 趙孟頫, 조선 한호 등 한중 명필의 장점이 가미된 서체를 익혀 자유롭게 구사하면서 장중하고 위엄있는 정조 자신만의 어필체를 이루었다.

가장 바른 서체라고 인식한 醇正書體를 적극 활용하고 널리 알리려고 충신이자 명필인 안진경의 글자로 集字碑 건립을 지시하였다. 그리고 活字 주조와 木板 보급을 통해 순정서체로 인쇄한 도서를 누구나 접할 수 있도록 하였다. 활자는 丁酉字(1777), 生生字(1792) 등의 총 6종에 100만여 자를 만들었다. 󰡔오경백선』 간행을 위해 순정서체로 새긴 목판을 만들고자 嶺南의 서리들을 서울로 불러 올려 여러 날의 繕寫 과정을 거쳐 완성시키는 열정과 노력을 기울였다.

서체반정은 1792년(정조 16)부터 정조의 강력한 의지로 추진되었음을 이번 연구를 통해 처음 확인하였다. 문체반정도 같은 해에 시행되었다. 정조는 신료들에게 순정치 못한 서체로 글씨를 쓰지 말고 순정한 서체인 蜀體를 먼저 익히라 하였다. 그리고 성균관 유생들의 답안지 글씨가 순정치 못하면 낙방시키라고 하였다. 또한 규장각의 閣吏와 각 관아의 吏胥에게도 순정서체를 쓰도록 지시하였다. 규장각 직속으로 자비대령사자관을 설치하고 시행한 녹취재에서는 楷書, 草書 등의 필사 능력을 시험하는 기본 과제가 있었다. 정조는 순정한 서체로 인식한 조선화된 왕희지체인 ‘晋體’와 조선화된 송설체 ‘蜀體’와 더불어 조선후기 명필 한호의 ‘韓體’도 시험 보게 하여 순정 서체의 중요성을 강조하였다.

정조대를 대표하는 서예가는 曺允亨이다. 정조가 아끼던 金弘道와 더불어 ‘서화쌍벽’이라고 병칭된다. 조윤형은 1773년(영조 49) 세손익위사에 재직시 정조에게 서법 학습에 경계해야 할 말을 진언하여 정조로부터 그대는 ‘나의 筆諫’이라는 칭찬을 받은 인연이 있다. 정조는 조윤형을 총애하여 왕실 관련 書役을 맡기고 당시의 書苑을 주도하게 하였다. 가평군수 재직 때는 한호처럼 󰡔千字文󰡕을 써서 올리게 한 적도 있었다. 선조가 한호가 쓴 󰡔천자문󰡕을 인쇄하고 전국에 배포하여 조선의 서풍을 크게 바꾸게 한 것처럼 정조도 조윤형의 󰡔천자문󰡕을 통해 서풍의 변화를 의도했던 것으로 추정된다. 조윤형은 ‘時體’를 유행시켜 정조가 집중 비난하던 윤순의 손제자이다. 그런 조윤형을 정조는 서체반정 시기를 대표하는 모범 서예가로 교정시켜 가며 적극 활용하였던 것이다.

1798년(정조 22) 12월 3일 정조는 스스로 호를 ‘萬川明月主人翁’이라 하고 그 뜻과 내력을 설명한 ｢自序｣를 친히 짓고 어필로 쓴 후 최측근 신료 33명에게도 繕寫하게 해서 현판으로 만들어 궁중 전각에 나눠 걸도록 하였다. 직접 글씨를 쓰게 한 것은 글의 내용을 주지시키는 한편 바른 서체로 글씨를 쓰게 하려는 두 가지 의도가 있었다. 또한 주자학을 신봉하였던 정조는 1800년 4월에 돌아가기 직전 朱熹의 시를 124명의 近臣에게 바른 글씨로 쓰게 한 후 본인도 어필로 서문을 써서 󰡔朱夫子詩󰡕를 편찬하였다. 정조는 1800년 주희 서거 600주기를 맞이하여 기념 사업으로 󰡔朱子全書󰡕를 준비하였으나 완성하지 못하였다. 그 아쉬움을 문체반정과 서체반정의 의미와 목적이 모두 담긴 󰡔주부자시󰡕 편찬으로 대신하였던 것으로 판단된다.

정조는 문체반정을 추진하면서 南公轍, 金祖淳, 朴趾源 등의 특정 신료들을 지목하여 ｢自訟文｣을 지어 바치게 한 적이 있다. 정조의 요구대로 대부분 반성하는 내용이 담긴 글을 지어 바쳤지만 왕의 명령이라서 따랐을 뿐 진심 어린 반성은 아니었다. 심지어 정조의 이같은 조치를 공개 비난하는 신료도 있었다. 정조가 <어제 만천명월주인옹자서> 현판 내용과 󰡔주부자시󰡕에 실린 주희 시를 측근 신료들에게 직접 쓰게 한 것은 ｢자송문｣을 특정 신료들에게 짓게 한 것과 동일한 성격의 지시라고 할 수 있을 것이다.

정조가 이러한 과정을 통해서라도 바꾸고 싶어 하던 문체와 서풍은 당대에는 일견 정조의 의도대로 변화된 듯하였으나 정조 사후에는 추진력을 급격히 잃고 더 이상 지속되지 못하였다. 오히려 신료들이 추구하던 새로운 문화 흐름인 신문과 신체 등이 대세를 이루게 되었다. 군왕 개인의 취향이 한 시대의 문화 흐름을 변화시키기에는 뚜렷한 한계가 있었기 때문이다.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

King Jeongjo (r. 1776 – 1800), who led the literary and artistic revival of the late Joseon period, devoted great effort from his days as Grand Heir to cultivating scholarly knowledge and literary refinement that would surpass even his officials. As a result, he came to possess outstanding abilities not only in scholarship and literature, but also in calligraphy. After his enthronement, he distanced himself from the royal in-law families and implemented a policy of appointing sarim (士林) scholars. Advocating for scholarly governance, he established the Gyujanggak (奎章閣). King Jeongjo, together with these scholars, carried out large-scale book compilation projects across various fields of scholarship and the arts.

True to his reputation as a scholarly monarch, King Jeongjo left behind a voluminous collected works titled Hongjae Jeonseo (弘齋全書). Through this compilation, he demonstrated his role not only as a sovereign who reigned over all the people, but also as a teacher—a gunsa (君師, the Confucian ideal of a ruler who is not only a sovereign but also a teacher of the people). Building on this confidence, King Jeongjo brought the long-standing issue of munpung (文風, literary style) to the forefront from the very beginning of his reign and actively pursued its banjeong (反正, rectification)—a return to proper standards and principles. This was because the prevailing literary style of the time had, in his view, become deeply corrupted—having been heavily influenced by the category of paegwan soseol (稗官小說類, vernacular fiction by unofficial chroniclers) of the Ming and Qing dynasties, sinchemun (新體文, new prose forms), and seohak (西學, Western learning) that gained traction after the two wars (the Japanese invasion of 1592 and Manchu War in 1636). This movement came to be known as the munche banjeong (文體反正, Rectification of Literary Style). Through these measures, King Jeongjo sought to restore Joseon's prose style to the plain and unadorned literary tone of the early dynasty.

King Jeongjo was not content with merely rectifying prose style. He strongly criticized both the siche (時體, contemporary style) promoted by Yun Sun, which had embraced the impure literary trends of Qing China, and the broader stylistic currents of Joseon that had followed suit. He then implemented a series of measures to revert the prevailing script style to that of earlier periods when it remained unadorned and pure, specifically to the eras of the Grand Prince Anpyeong (1418–1453) and Han Ho (1543–1605). This movement came to be known as the seoche banjeong (書體反正, Rectification of Script Style). King Jeongjo’s cultural policies were not limited to prose and script styles; he also sought to reshape the akpung (樂風, musical tradition) and the hwapung (畵風, artistic style) according to his own vision, particularly through jabi daeryeong hwawon (差備待令畵員, court painter in attendance) of the Gyujanggak.

King Jeongjo possessed a firm and well-defined view of calligraphy. He deeply sympathized with Tang dynasty calligrapher Liu Gongquan (柳公權)’s dictum, simjeong-jeuk-piljeong-ron (心正則筆正論, When the mind is upright, the brush will be upright Theory), as well as the Han dynasty scholar Yang Xiong (揚雄)’s simhwa-ron (心畵論, Theory on the Mind as Painting), and frequently cited them whenever discussing calligraphy. From his days as Grand Heir, King Jeongjo diligently practiced calligraphy, ultimately attaining the most exceptional mastery of brush technique among all kings of the Joseon dynasty. After studying the calligraphic style of his predecessor, King Yeongjo, King Jeongjo mastered and freely employed a script that incorporated the strengths of renowned Chinese and Korean calligraphers—Tang dynasty’s Yan Zhenqing, Liu Gongquan, Song dynasty’s Su Shi, Yuan dynasty’s Zhao Mengfu, and Joseon’s Han Ho—whom he regarded as exemplars of sunjeong seoche (醇正書體, pure and upright script style). Through this synthesis, he developed a solemn and authoritative calligraphic style uniquely his own.

Recognizing sunjeong seoche as the most proper and upright script style, King Jeongjo actively employed and promoted it by commissioning the construction of jipjabi (集字碑, stele composed of collected characters) using the calligraphy of the loyal official and master calligrapher Yan Zhenqing. He also made books printed in the sunjeong seoche widely accessible to the public by promoting the casting of movable type and the distribution of woodblock prints. A total of six different sets of movable type were cast, including Jeongyuja (丁酉字, copper movable type cast based on Gapinja (甲寅字) as the model script) in 1777 and Saengsaengja (生生字, wooden movable type modeled after the calligraphy of the Kangxi Dictionary) in 1792, producing over one million individual type pieces. In order to publish the Ogyeong Baekseon (五經百選, One Hundred Selections from the Five Classics), King Jeongjo devoted great passion and effort to producing woodblocks engraved in the sunjeong seoche. He summoned seori (胥吏, clerical functionary) from the Yeongnam region to the capital, where they spent several days carefully transcribing the text in a meticulous copying process.

This study has confirmed for the first time that the Rectification of Script Style was initiated in 1792 (the 16th year of King Jeongjo’s reign) under his strong personal initiative. The Rectification of Literary Style was also implemented in the same year. King Jeongjo instructed his officials not to write in impure or unrefined script styles, but instead to first master of Chokche (蜀體, a Joseon adaptation of Zhao Mengfu script style), a script he regarded as pure and proper. He ordered that if the handwriting of the Seonggyungwan students on their examination papers was not in the standard script, they should be failed. He also instructed the clerks of the Gyujanggak and the officials of various government offices to use the standard script. Under the direct supervision of the Gyujanggak, the position of jabi daeryeong sajagwan (差備待令寫字官, privately appointed transcription officer on standby) was established, and in the implemented Nokchwijae (祿取才, Transcription Talent Selection Examination), a fundamental requirement was to assess manuscript proficiency in various scripts, including Haeseo (楷書, standard script) and Choseo (草書, cursive script). King Jeongjo emphasized the importance of standardized calligraphy by requiring candidates to be examined not only in the Jinche (晉體)—the script style of Wang Xizhi from the Jin (晉) of China—but also in the refined Joseon versions of the Songseolche [蜀體] and the Hanche (韓體), the latter being the calligraphic style of the renowned late Joseon calligrapher Han Ho.

The representative calligrapher of the Jeongjo era was Jo Yun-hyeong (曺允亨). Alongside Kim Hong-do (金弘道), a person highly esteemed by King Jeongjo, he was referred to as one of the “seohwa ssangbyeok” (書畫雙璧, twin pillars of calligraphy and painting) of the time. In 1773 (the 49th year of King Yeongjo’s reign), while serving as a member of the Seson igwisa (世孫翊衛司, Guard Office of the Grand Heir), Jo Yun-hyeong offered a critical admonition to the then-Grand Heir Jeongjo regarding the disciplined study of calligraphy. In response, Jeongjo praised him, saying, “You are my pilgan (筆諫, remonstrator with the brush).” King Jeongjo held Jo Yun-hyeong in high esteem and entrusted him with seoyeok (書役, official calligraphic duties) related to the royal court. As a result, Jo came to play a leading role in shaping the seowon (書苑, calligraphic culture) of the time. During his tenure as the magistrate of Gapyeong, he once instructed officials to submit their writings in the form of the Cheonjamun (󰡔千字文󰡕, Thousand Character Primer), following the example of Han Ho. Just as King Seonjo printed and distributed Han Ho’s Cheonjamun nationwide, significantly transforming the calligraphic style of Joseon, it is presumed that King Jeongjo similarly intended to influence the national calligraphic trend through Jo Yun-hyeong’s Cheonjamun. Jo Yun-hyeong was a second-generation disciple of Yun Sun (尹淳), who had been the target of King Jeongjo’s pointed criticism for popularizing the siche (時體, contemporary style). Despite this background, King Jeongjo actively employed Jo Yun-hyeong as a model calligrapher representing the period of the Rectification of Script Style, guiding and refining his style to align with the king’s vision of standardization.

On December 3, 1798 (the 22nd year of King Jeongjo’s reign), King Jeongjo bestowed upon himself the sobriquet Mancheon myeongwol juininong (萬川明月主人翁, Master of the Bright Moon over Ten Thousand Streams―meaning managing all occurrence in the world) and personally composed <Jaseo (｢自序｣, The Preface)> explaining its meaning and origin. He then transcribed it in his own hand and had 33 of his closest officials produce copied versions, which were made into framed plaques and displayed throughout various royal pavilions within the palace. Having them transcribe the text served a dual purpose: to instill the content of the writing and to ensure that it was rendered in proper, standardized calligraphy. Moreover, as a devoted follower of Zhu Xi Study, King Jeongjo, shortly before his death in April 1800, ordered 124 of his close officials to transcribe Zhu Xi’s poems in proper script. He himself wrote the preface in his own hand, and the collection was compiled under the title Jubuja si (󰡔朱夫子詩󰡕, Poems of Master Zhu). In 1800, to commemorate the 600th anniversary of Zhu Xi’s death, King Jeongjo initiated the compilation of the Juja Jeonseo (󰡔朱子全書󰡕, Complete Works of Master Zhu) as a memorial project, but it was never completed. It is believed that King Jeongjo sought to compensate for this unfinished endeavor through the compilation of the Jubuja si, a project that embodied both the spirit and objectives of the munche banjeong (文體反正, Rectification of Literary Style) and seoche banjeong (書體反正, Rectification of Script Style).

While promoting the munche banjeong, King Jeongjo specifically designated certain officials—such as Nam Gong-cheol, Kim Jo-sun, and Park Ji-won—to compose and submit a Jasongmun (自訟文, an introspective essay of self-admonition acknowledging their own literary or moral shortcomings). In accordance with King Jeongjo’s command, most of the officials composed and submitted writings that expressed repentance; however, they did so out of obligation rather than genuine remorse. Some officials even openly criticized the king’s directive, viewing it as an excessive and coercive measure. King Jeongjo’s directive requiring his close officials to personally transcribe the content of the royal plaque Eoje Mancheon myeongwol juininong Jaseo (御製萬川明月主人翁自序, The Royal Preface to Master of the Bright Moon over Ten Thousand Streams) and the poems of Zhu Xi included in the Jubuja si can be understood as fundamentally similar in nature to his earlier order compelling specific officials to compose Jasongmun.

The literary style and calligraphic trends that King Jeongjo sought to reform through these measures appeared to shift in accordance with his vision during his reign. However, after his death, the momentum behind these reforms quickly waned, and they failed to be sustained. Instead, emerging cultural trends favored by the officials—such as sinmun (新文, new literary style) and sinche (新體, new calligraphic style)—came to dominate. This reflects the clear limitations of a king’s personal tastes in effecting lasting change in the broader cultural currents of an era.