Giuseppe Castiglione 郎世寧 (1688-1766) Italian-Chinese Painter

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Italian-Chinese Painter Lang Shi’ning
Giuseppe Castiglione (Lang Shi’ning) was born in Milan on July 19th of 1688. He studied painting in Italy with Carlo Cornara at the Botteghe Degli Stampator painting studio. He joined the Society of Jesus in 1707 and became a Jesuit Brother. As a missionary he had worked in Genoa and Lisbon; by 1715 he was sent to Macao, China by the European Catholic Church.
He ended up traveling to Beijing where his artistic ability impressed the Emperor who invited Castiglione to paint for him at his Court. During his time in China he adopted the Chinese name Lang Shi’ning. Castiglione ended up serving as imperial artist to the next three emperors as well: Kang Xi, Yong Zheng and Qian Long.
Castiglione painted in European style, but featured many Chinese themes. During his time in China, he designed the Western-Style Palaces in the imperial gardens of the Old Summer Palace. He stayed in Beijing until his death in 1766; he is buried in the European Missionary Graveyard in Beijing.
Due to Castiglione’s work, Chinese artists wrote the first book on western painting. He introduced Chinese artists to many western techniques and was known for his portraits and animals. Today, Castigliones paintings are on over 40 Chinese stamps. Most of Castigliones works are housed in museums in either Beijing or Taipei. In 2000, his work “Fields in the Autumn: was auctioned off for 17.6 million HK dollars.
郎世寧（Giuseppe Castiglione，1688.7.19-1766.7.16），意大利人，原名朱塞佩·伽斯底里奧內，生於意大利米蘭，清康熙帝五十四年（1715）作為天主教耶穌會的修道士來中國傳教，隨即入宮進入如意館，為清代宮廷十大畫家之一，曾參加圓明園西洋樓的設計工作，歷經康，雍，幹三朝，在中國從事繪畫50多年，並參加了圓明園西洋樓主的作品，極大地影響了康熙之後的清代宮廷繪畫和審美趣味。[1-2]主要作品有“十駿犬圖”“百駿圖”“幹隆大閱圖”“瑞谷圖” “花鳥圖”，“百子圖”等