The Qing Dynasty was the last feudal dynasty in our feudal history of more than 2,400 years. However, most people only think about the Qing Dynasty in the image of Yelang being arrogant and later destroyed. As everyone knows, even in the Qing Dynasty, there was a period of glory

The Qing Dynasty was the last feudal dynasty in our feudal history of more than 2,400 years. But for the Qing Dynasty, most people only stay in the image of Yelang's arrogance and subsequent destruction. As everyone knows, even in the Qing Dynasty, also had a glorious period.

This period is our Kangxi heyday. As one of the important figures in this period of history, Qianlong's achievements are naturally indispensable.

Regarding Qianlong, the first thing some people recall is the passionate Qianlong in "Huanzhugege ". Some people lament the Qianlong who strategized in history, while others miss the talented Qianlong.

But what is the real Qianlong in history? Is it as shown in the TV series? As for Qianlong's true appearance, what is like?

Get to know

When directors choose "emperors", most of them choose temperament. As for whether the appearance is really consistent with the historical Qianlong, has never been considered.

Perhaps it was influenced by the hit "Huan Zhuge Ge" every summer vacation. When Qianlong is mentioned, the image of Zhang Tielin in a yellow robe always comes to mind.

But in addition to Zhang Tielin, there was another person who played the role of Qianlong. This person is Qiu Xinzhi, and in this "New Return of the Pearl", there is one more person who has never been mentioned before. The new role of is Castiglione .

Out of curiosity , many people are eagerly searching through history to see if there really is such a person. You won’t know if you don’t search. After searching, you really found some information about Qianlong and Castiglione. story.

Castiglione was born in 1688. He was an Italian. His original name was Giuseppe Castiglione. He came to the Central Plains in the fifty-fourth year of Kangxi . At the beginning, Castiglione wanted to come to the Central Plains to preach. .

At that time, the and Qing Dynasty were in a kind of blind arrogance of "I am the only one", , which attracted many people from Western countries to come up with the truth, and Castiglione was one of them.

After many twists and turns, Lang Shining finally entered the palace. Because his painting talent was very good, he successfully entered the Ruyi Pavilion and became a royal painter for the palace. He stayed there for fifty years.

At the beginning, because the emperor was not very interested in the paintings of these foreigners, and because of the cumbersome verification, most of Castiglione's paintings during this period were of palace scenery or flowers and plants.

But even so, Castiglione's high attainments in painting are still recognized by everyone. "Hundred Horses", one of China's top ten famous paintings handed down from generation to generation, is one of Lang Shining's masterpieces, with delicate brushwork and extremely unique expression techniques.

Portrait

After the expansion of the Old Summer Palace, the meandering scenery everywhere provided Lang Shining with many creative sources, and gradually began to attract the attention of Yongzheng.

By the time Qianlong came to the throne, Lang Shining already had a certain status among the palace painters, because Yongzheng had stabilized the country for Qianlong, so that during Qianlong's reign, was not tired, but had a lot of time. Used to cultivate sentiment.

It was also during the reign of Qianlong that Lang Shining truly entered the emperor's field of vision. Qianlong had been fond of music, chess, calligraphy and painting since he was a child, and he also paid more attention to the painting skills of the palace painters.

Castiglione's outstanding talent, naturally attracted Qianlong's attention. The more he learned about it, the more Qianlong was amazed by Castiglione's talent. Later, he even made an exception and promoted this man as the chief painter of the Qing Dynasty.

The two hit it off, and often gathered together to discuss painting techniques. When Qianlong was about 24 years old, he went to court every day. The first time he went to court was not to return to the harem, but to Castiglione's residence to watch him paint.

From then on, Lang Shining almost never missed any important moment in Qianlong's life. The scenes of banquets held by Qianlong in the palace, moments of hunting and even battles, Lang Shining all described them bit by bit in the paintings.

At that time, cameras had not yet been introduced to the Central Plains, and people could only leave memories through portraits. After getting used to painting scenery and flowers, Castiglione actually had the idea of ​​​​portrait of Qianlong, but he never spoke about it.

There is no other reason. In that feudal period, it was not an exaggeration to say that an emperor was the god of a country. Even with today's photos, I may not be satisfied with the photos, let alone the portraits.

Whether it looks like me or not is another matter. If the emperor is dissatisfied with the portrait , then it may be the crime of beheading. Although Lang Shining is a foreigner, he has lived in the Central Plains for so many years. He also knows that accompanying the emperor is like accompanying a tiger. reason.

Besides, painting is not something that can be accomplished overnight . The emperor may not have the patience to waste it on himself. If something goes wrong accidentally on the way, it will be even more unexplainable.

However, Lang Shining did not mention , which does not mean that others will not think so. One day, at the suggestion of a minister, Qianlong was a little tempted, so made a portrait of Qianlong, "Qianlong Half-length Portrait in Winter Clothes" born.

Realistic Portrait

This portrait uses realistic oil painting techniques. is accustomed to Chinese-style landscape paintings. The photo-like realistic style of Castiglione's paintings attracted Qianlong's attention even more.

And the Qianlong in this portrait has a majesty and a kind of emperor who cares about the people of the world. This is different from what we see in TV series, but it unexpectedly satisfies Qianlong's desire for his own status as emperor. The most perfect guess.

Can we say that in this painting, Lang Shining deliberately beautified the image of Qianlong to please the emperor? Not necessarily. As an emperor, Qianlong had heard a lot of compliments. Compared with false compliments, Qianlong preferred the other party's honesty.

Castiglione's painting is mainly realistic . What he pursues is to restore the painting stroke by stroke to satisfy Qianlong. That is naturally because the Qianlong in the portrait is indeed very similar to himself.

In addition, although Lang Shining has lived in China for a long time, he actually grew up abroad. was in awe of the emperor, but he did not deliberately portray the tall image of Qianlong.

After putting aside these concerns, Castiglione began to paint more boldly than other painters. Fortunately, both parties were quite satisfied with the final result. This portrait also accidentally preserved for us the most authentic image of Qianlong in that era without cameras. portrait.

In addition, in the "Scroll of Qianlong and His Concubines" in the Old Summer Palace, there are a total of thirteen figures on the scroll, all of whom are half-length images wearing winter dragon robes, together with the portrait of Empress Xiaoxian in the Forbidden City in Beijing, are also all created by Castiglione.

Conclusion

In the "Manuscript of the History of the Qing Dynasty", , there is a sentence: "Lang Shining, a Westerner... Gaozong especially appreciated the differences, and he was always interested in them, and they were all lifelike... except for Bingzhen and others." Dao lived his glorious life.

In 1766, Lang Shining passed away at the age of 78 and was buried in a land granted by the emperor outside the city. This wonderful journey finally came to an end.