Creator's Description: This article will show how Si tu paṇ chen became familar with many artistic schools and their aesthetics, how he gained the skills to appraise Tibetan painting and sculpture both critically and technically, and how he also developed as a self-trained artist.Using his own writings, I will discuss Si tu paṇ chen, the artist and how his connoisseurship and wider learning influenced his own paintings and statuary. Furthermore, I will make an assessment of his subsequent artistic influence; his celebrated status among his contemporaries, his lasting artistic influence on his disciples and the defining of the Dpal spungs school style. Finally, using the writings of late nineteenth- and twentieth-century scholars I will assess the impact of Si tu paṇ chen on the Karma sgar bris style and the classifying of the Karma sgar bris gsar ma. (2013-07-01)