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Gain access to this incredible resource through either a monthly or a yearly subscription and search the entire collection from your desktop, compare multiple images side by side and zoom into the minute details of the images. Visit www.davidrumsey.com/amica for more information on the collection, click on the link below the revolving thumbnail to the right, or email us at amica@luna-img.com . Creator Name: Lang, Shining Creator Nationality: Italian Creator Role: Artist Creator Dates/Places: 1688 - 1768 Gender: M Creator Name-CRT: Shining Lang Title: Inauguration Portraits of Emperor Qianlong, the Empress and Eleven Imperial Consorts Title Type: Primary View: Detail Creation Start Date: 1736 Creation End Date: 1736 Creation Date: 1736 Object Type: Paintings Materials and Techniques: handscroll, ink and color on silk Dimensions: Image: 53cm x 688.3cm, Overall: 53.8cm x 1154.5cm AMICA Contributor: The Cleveland Museum of Art Owner Location: Cleveland, Ohio, USA ID Number: 1969.31 Credit Line: John L. Severance Fund Rights: http://www.clemusart.com/museum/disclaim2.html Context: Almost from its inception in 1534, the Society of Jesus, better known as the Jesuits, sent missionaries to the Far East. Unlike other European religious orders, the Jesuits sought to gain influence and, consequently, converts by introducing specialized Western knowledge to the elites in the regions they visited. By the late seventeenth century, Jesuits trained in technical fields as diverse as hydraulics, astronomy, and cartography were resident in Beijing and serving the emperor. At the same time, the society sent other members like Giuseppe Castiglione who affected the training and style of artists and artisans at court. Castiglione, a Jesuit born in Milan and trained in European painting techniques, proved influential and painted for three different Chinese emperors. Epitomizing Jesuit attitudes, Castiglione not only taught Western methods of perspective and chiaroscuro to his Chinese pupils but also studied his students' traditional watercolor techniques, eventually achieving his own synthetic stylecombining the two. This impressive scroll, depicting the Qianlong emperor (ruled 1736-96) as well as his empress and concubines, clearly illustrates Castiglione's favor at court. According to the inscription that accompanies the portraits, the painting was made on the day Qianlong ascended the throne. For this imperial project, the painter chose an extremely formal manner, presenting full frontal busts that are almost life size. Borrowed from the indigenous traditions of Chinese imperial and ancestor portraiture, the faces and richly embroidered robes are depicted rather flatly so that their features are unobscured by dramatic shadow. Castiglione logically concentrated on the emperor and empress and may only have sketched the remaining figures, leaving them for others to complete. The last three figures, added to the scroll after Qianlong's death and obviously different from the rest, must have been painted by a Chinese artist less experienced in the Western manner. This is not the only change introducedafter the scroll was created. Recent examination has illustrated that all the labels accompanying the portraits were at some point erased and rewritten. Perhaps done following Qianlong's death when the other figures were added, this discovery has prompted renewed study of the history of this important scroll, one of the most powerful imperial images in all of Chinese art. K.W. AMICA ID: CMA_.1969.31 AMICA Library Year: 1998 Media Metadata Rights: AMICA PUBLIC RIGHTS: a) Access to the materials is granted for personal and non-commercial use. b) A full educational license for non-commercial use is available from Cartography Associates at www.davidrumsey.com/amica/institution_subscribe.html c) Licensed users may continue their examination of additional materials provided by Cartography Associates, and d) commercial rights are available from the rights holder. Home
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