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medievalpoc @medievalpoc
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Giuseppe Castiglione, also known as Lang Shining (郎世寧), was born on July 19, 1688, in the central San Marcellino district of Milan, Italy. At the age of 27, he received instructions to go to China where he served as an artist at the imperial court of three emperors.
While in China, Castiglione took the name Lang Shining (郎世寧), and adapted his Western painting style to Chinese themes and taste. This painting of Xiang Fei (A woman) in European Armour was made c.1760, and resides in National Palace Museum, Taipei.
Giuseppe Castiglione
Kazaks offering horses in tribute to the Emperor Qianlong
China/Southern Italy (1757)
Ink and colors on paper; hanging scroll. 45.5 x 269 cm
Réunion des Musées Nationaux
"Castiglione successfully combined Western realism with traditional Chinese conventions of brushwork in a manner that suited the imperial taste."
projects.mcah.columbia.edu/nanxuntu/html/…
Lang Shining (Guiseppe Castiglione)
The Young Qianlong Emperor
Italy/China (1736)
Guiseppe Castiglione (Lang Shining)
Inauguration Portrait of Emperor Qianlong and 12 Imperial Consorts
China/Italy (1736)
Handscroll, ink and color on silk; 53.8 cm. x 1154.5 cm.
The Cleveland Museum of Art
clevelandart.org/art/1969.31
Lang Shining (Giuseppe Castiglione)
Machang Lays Low the Enemy Ranks
Italy/China (1759)
Handscroll, ink and colors on paper, 38.4 x 285.9 cm.
National Palace Museum, Taipei.
Lang Shining (Guiseppe Castiglione)
Portrait of the Xiaosheng Empress Dowager on Her Sixtieth Birthday
Italy/China (1751)
Hanging scroll, colour on silk. 230.5×141.3 cm.
The Palace Museum, Beijing.
Giuseppe Castiglione
The Qianlong Emperor in Ceremonial Armour on Horseback, c. 1758
Ink and color on silk; 322.5 cm x 232 cm.
The Palace Museum, Beijing.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_…
This is said to be another portrait of Xiang Fei (Fragrant Concubine), the same woman who was painted in European plate armor for the previous and one other portrait. More here (with links): medievalpoc.tumblr.com/post/546900736…
Castiglione served as court artist for 50 years, and was granted increasingly higher official rank within the court. He died in Beijing in 1766. An obituary was personally penned by Qianlong, who also erected a special stone in Castiglione's memory. web.archive.org/web/2016082603…
Reconciling Two Careers: the Jesuit Memoir of Giuseppe Castiglione, Lay Brother and Qing Imperial Painter
academia.edu/7019857/Reconc…
Text citations, further reading, and links:
medievalpoc.tumblr.com/post/860031327…
If you'd like to support what I do here:
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Oh! I almost forgot to add another work that I've been able to find VERY little info on that purports to also be Xiang Fei; I see it around but never credited to anything other than "palace painter" which well could have been Shining. If you know anything about it, please share!
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khm.at/objektdb/detai…
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Oil on Canvas, 201.3 x 235.6 cm.
Yale Center for British Art
collections.britishart.yale.edu/vufind/Record/…
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