Gu Linshi was the grandson of the great Suzhou literatus Gu Wenbin (1811-1889). Gu Linshi inherited his grandfather's collection of paintings Guoyunlou Guoyunlou and relocated the collection to Shanghai to the Yiyuan garden. He took a scholarly approach to the collection, publishing notes on Paintings from the Gu Yun Pavilion «??????». With an important collection of paintings at an arms length, Gu Linshi became fluent in applying the methods of various traditional masters of Chinese paintings, frequently adopting the styles of the Four Wangs and Wu School painters. Gu Linshi was a cousin of C.C. Wang, who recalled that the elderly gentleman was a recluse but enjoyed conversations about painting with his younger kinsman.