Arrive in China
Lang Shining was born in Milan in 1688, and joined the Jesuits in Genoa at the age of 19. Soon, he used his artistic talent to draw two religious paintings for the small church of the monastery in the city. At that time, European intellectuals were very yearning for China culture. Lang Shining, who was weak, asked the Association to send him to China.
In the fifty-fourth year of Emperor Kangxi of Qing Dynasty (17 15), he came to China as a Catholic Jesuit monk. 1 1 was summoned by Emperor Kangxi. At that time, Kangxi was 6 1 year old and loved art and science. Although he disapproves of the religion that Lang Shining believes in, he regards him as an artist, which is very polite. Kangxi said to him, "Western teachings violate China's orthodoxy. The state only employs missionaries because they understand the basic principles of mathematics." He also expressed surprise: "How can you always care about the future world you haven't entered and ignore the real world? Actually, everything has its place. " Lang Shining was immediately appointed as a court painter, and he had no chance to preach.
The court painter walks into the palace from his apartment near Donghuamen in Beijing every morning and reports to the palace guards at seven o'clock.
Kangxi era
Painting in a studio between the courtyard and the imperial garden until 5 pm. This room is hot in summer and cold in winter, so the painter must put a can of paint on the small charcoal stove to avoid condensation. Besides painting, they have to learn Chinese and Manchu.
Kangxi didn't like oil painting, because it would darken and blur after a long time. Therefore, Lang Shining and other European painters learned the difficult skills of painting on silk with colloidal pigments. You can't add two strokes after one stroke, and you can't modify and polish it. The brush strokes occasionally hesitate, or the pen is too heavy, and the painting is ruined.
The court painters painted according to the principle of Guo Xiding, a poet in the Song Dynasty: "In landscape painting, the mountains are full of feet, the trees are full of feet, the horses are full of inches, and the figures are full of one tenth of an inch." Parallel lines are completely parallel. In Lang Shining's view, China's concept of distance coordination is completely wrong. He suggested to Kangxi to set up a painting school, which was not adopted. Later, he helped Xirao Nian, the standard-bearer, publish a book called Vision.
The landscape architecture in a painting shows different viewpoints and angles.
However, in the eyes of many people in China, it is hypocritical and artistic to deal with space problems with the perspective principle of geometry. In Chinese painting, there are not only few views on things, but also the angle of sight is not fixed, so painters can show different views and angles on landscapes or gardens in the same painting. The theme of Lang Shining's paintings was designated by the emperor. Portraits must draw a flat front, not a shadow. People think that shadows on portraits are "like spots and flaws on the face".
Yongzheng era
Kangxi 1722 died, and Yin Zhen, the fourth son of the emperor, succeeded to the throne, namely Yongzheng. Missionaries were unlucky, and only priests serving in the court received special courtesy, showing the charm of European light and shadow paintings to the emperor and court painters in China. Painted in the first year of Yongzheng (1723) and the second year of Yongzheng (1724), Song Xianying's Picture Axis and Hundred Horses' Picture Volume in the sixth year of Yongzheng (1728) all show Lang Shining's solid realistic skills, which embodies.
During the Yongzheng period, according to the emperor's will, Lang Shining taught European oil painting skills to court painters in China, such as bhandari Sha, 1980s, Sun Weifeng, Wang Biao, Shu Ge and Yongtai. Since then, oil paintings of pure European paintings have also become popular in the courts of the Qing Dynasty. According to the archives of the Qing Dynasty, during this period, Lang Shining created many works, but only some of them have been preserved so far, and most of them have been lost.
In the second year of Yongzheng (1724), the emperor began to expand the Yuanmingyuan on a large scale, which provided Lang Shining with an excellent opportunity to develop his creative talents. He lived in this famous oriental garden for a long time and painted many pictures to decorate the palace. Among them, there are both European-style oil paintings and European-style focus perspective paintings that show deep three-dimensional effect on the plane. Yong Zhengdi appreciates the work of this foreign painter very much. He once commented on a figure painting: "This painting is good!" (See the archives of the Office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Qing Dynasty)
Outside the palace, Lang Shining is also closely related to several half-brothers of Yong Zhengdi, such as Prince Yi Yunxiang, Prince Guo Yunli, Shen Jun Wang Yunxi, etc. They painted for them, and many works have been handed down to this day. Such as Prince Li Guoyun's Page (collected by Beijing Palace Museum), Eight Horses Banner (collected by Jiangxi Provincial Museum) and Matu (collected by Shanghai Museum). These works and this phenomenon, on the one hand, show Lang Shining's frequent artistic activities outside the palace, on the other hand, show that it was a popular fashion to appreciate European-style works of art in Manchu aristocratic circles at that time.
Gan Long Times
Yongzheng reign 13 years, Qianlong succeeded to the throne. Emperor Qianlong was good at painting, calligraphy and poetry, and paid attention to the development of court painting during his reign. Therefore, Lang Shining, a painter who entered the palace from Kangxi, is still highly valued, becoming the best painter in the court. Ganlong was 24 years old when he ascended the throne, and went to the studio every day to watch Lang Shining paint. In addition, judging from the existing works, Li Hong had met and had many contacts and close ties with him when he ascended the throne. After Emperor Qianlong ascended the throne, he rewarded the court painters with money and kind for many times, and almost every time he received Lang Shining's share, which was treated equally with the elders of court painters such as Lengmei and Tang Dai. Later, Emperor Qianlong held a very grand birthday ceremony for Lang Shining's seventieth birthday, gave him a generous birthday present and wrote a congratulatory message in person. At this time, Lang Shining was 77 years old and was familiar with palace affairs, so senior church officials ordered him to present a memorial to the emperor, which was very dangerous. One day, Gan Long came to see him draw as usual. Lang Shining knelt down and said something about "our sacred teaching law" and was condemned. Then he took out a roll of Jesuits wrapped in yellow silk from his pocket and presented it. At that time, the eunuchs in the palace were frightened to see Lang Shining's bold move. However, Gan Long said gently, "I don't condemn your religion, I just forbid my subjects to change their beliefs." From then on, Lang Shining was searched every morning when he entered the palace to make sure he didn't have any souvenirs.
1746, five Benedictine missionaries were sentenced to death. One day, when Qianlong ordered Lang Shining to submit a draft of a new painting, he knelt down and said, "Please have mercy on our sad religion." The emperor's decision cannot be changed without an answer.
But Lang Shining also had moments of relaxation in the palace. One day, when Qianlong saw the concubines around him, Lang Shining was embarrassed and asked him, "Who do you think is the most beautiful among them?" Lang Shining replied, "All the concubines of the son of heaven are beautiful." Gan Long asked again, "Who did you admire most among those concubines yesterday?" "I didn't see them. I am counting the tiles on the palace. " "How many tiles are there?" Lang Shining replied, "Thirty dollars." The emperor ordered eunuchs to count, which was really good.
Since then, Lang has never been teased. But he was ordered to draw a statue of the queen with 1 1 concubines, entitled "Peace of mind". This is the most famous of the 200 figures painted by Lang Shining. This painting was completed after only three times. It has been 700,000 years and has given way. Immediately, the painting was sealed in a box and it was ordered that anyone who stole it would be executed.
On June 10th, the 31st year of Qianlong (A.D.1July 766 16), Lang Shining died in Beijing three days before his 78th birthday, and his body was buried in the European Missionary Cemetery outside the West Fuchengmen in Beijing. Emperor Qianlong was very concerned about Lang Shining's death and ordered a funeral for him. Lang Shining's tombstone is engraved with the imperial edict: "On the 10th day of June in the 31st year of Qianlong, the imperial edict was issued: Lang Shining, a westerner, entered the palace since the reign of Kangxi, and was diligent and prudent, and was awarded three high hats. Today he died of illness, thinking that he had been walking for a long time and his teeth were almost eighty years old. According to Ignaz kogler's example, Garn gave him the title of assistant minister and gave the Ministry of Internal Affairs three hundred and twenty pieces of silver to handle the funeral as a sign of kindness. I admire this. " In the middle of the tombstone is the Chinese character "Tomb of the Jesuit Duke Lang", and on the left is the Latin epitaph.