Emperor Qianlong

This wall scroll features a reproduction of a famous painting of the Qianlong Emperor in ceremonial armor on horseback.

I have seen the original hanging in the Palace Museum in the Forbidden City in the center of Beijing. However, I have also seen it hanging in Taipei’s National Museum during my travels. I am not sure who possesses the true original.

The original painting was created by Giuseppe Castiglione (郎世寧) in 1758. He was a Jesuit brother from Milan who lived for 51 years in the Forbidden City after his arrival in China 300 years ago.

Castiglione left Genoa, Italy for Portugal and then China, where he arrived in 1715. Having unique artistic skills and being able to serve three emperors of the Qing Dynasty (Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong) he became an artist of reference in the history of China. He succeeded in calibrating and linking two pictorial traditions, the Chinese based on ink and rice paper, and the Western use of oil painting.