Giuseppe Castiglione’s “Emperor Qianlong Reviewing the Troops” Scroll

Accession Number: GU-00008761

Period: Qing Dynasty, Qianlong reign (1736-1795)

Artist: Giuseppe Castiglione (1688-1766)

Medium: Ink and color on silk

Dimensions: 332.5 × 232 cm

This unsigned work bears no artist’s seal, yet its stylistic features unmistakably identify it as an authentic masterpiece by Giuseppe Castiglione, the Italian Jesuit missionary and court painter to three Qing emperors.

Historical Context

In the fourth year of the Qianlong reign (1739 AD), Emperor Hongli personally inspected the Eight Banners Army at Nanyuan, reviewing their formations and drills involving both traditional weaponry and firearms. These grand military reviews, conducted triennially, served to bolster morale and project imperial power.

Artistic Significance

This portrait captures the 29-year-old Qianlong Emperor in full military regalia, radiating youthful vigor. Representing a pinnacle of Castiglione’s artistic maturity, the work nevertheless reveals the Italian master’s ongoing adaptation to Chinese pictorial traditions. Employing native brushes and silk, Castiglione achieved remarkable verisimilitude characteristic of Western oil painting while accommodating Eastern aesthetic sensibilities.

The artist minimized chiaroscuro modeling, employing even lighting to soften shadows. Contour lines, after establishing forms, become nearly invisible beneath layers of color. Western techniques dominate the cloud rendering and foreground vegetation, painted with scientific precision resembling European still life. Only the distant mountainscapes retain conventional elements of Qing court landscape painting.

Provenance

From the Qing imperial collection, now in the permanent holdings of The Palace Museum, Beijing.

Researched and documented by: Yu Hui

Keywords: Grand Military Review, Giuseppe Castiglione, Emperor Qianlong, Eight Banners Army, Qing Dynasty Art