In many people's minds, there exist two ways to discover picturesque Jiangnan, on the southern bank of Yangtze River. One is to view the landscape in real life and the other is to view the paintings of the late modern master Wu Guanzhong.

Wu, a native of Yixing, Jiangsu province, in the heart Jiangnan, recreated the natural beauty of the region he had been familiar with since childhood in such a way that it evokes a poetic resonance in a viewer, rendering his works with a classic charm.

Two paintings from Wu's Jiangnan landscape series will go under the hammer in Beijing on Thursday as part of a sale by Poly International Auction. Both titled Twin Swallows, the paintings are of the same size and present the same composition, but in different mediums: one is a classic Chinese ink piece completed in 1988 and the other is oil on canvas, and was completed six years later.

The two works, both 70 by 140 centimeters, depict the same serene scene, in which a couple of swallows fly over a stretch of riverside and houses built in a typical Jiangnan architectural style.