Inherit For Three Thousand Years

Castiglione Castiglione was an Italian painter with a good reputation among the missionaries who came to China in the early Qing Dynasty. He served the Qing court for fifty-one years, during the three dynasties of Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong, and painted hundreds of paintings for the court. There are many Chinese painters influenced by him.

Because he was good at Western painting, and Emperor Qianlong later forced him to paint with a Chinese brush, his figures, flowers, feathers and landscapes are full of Chinese and Western styles, which refreshed the court paintings of the Qing Dynasty. It has a high status in history.

This Turkey Picture is an ink and color silk book with a very large scale, about 1 meter in length and 1.8 meters in width. On the upper right of the painting, there is a Turkey Poem written by Emperor Qianlong inscribed by Yu Minzhong, a scholar of Wenhua Palace. First, the Department of payment: The minister Yu Minzhong received an imperial edict and respected the letter. There are two seals: Chen Min Zhongyin, Patriotic Articles and Zhu Wen's private seals.

In the lower right corner of the picture, there is the title of Jin Tingbiao's regular script: Chen Jin Tingbiao Gonghua, and there is a private seal of Tingbiao Baiwen.

In the center of the painting is a turkey standing on a stone. The head of the turkey is turned to the right side of the painting, its eyes are bright, its beak is curved, and its claws are firmly grasping the stone.

On the right side of the picture is a curved and coiled green pine tree with mottled and vigorous bark, and pine branches coiled on it.

In the lower left corner of the painting, a turkey with its head twisted and its feathers pecked is painted, as if looking at a rushing stream among the rocks. The upper part of the turkey is painted with brown-purple Ganoderma lucidum, and the lower right corner is painted with white peonies, surrounded by several small flowers.

The turkey, Ganoderma lucidum, and peonies in the whole work use Western methods, and the pointing tree and stone brush are traditional ink and wash features. The turkey is accurately shaped, realistic and lifelike, and the feathers, pecks, and claws are full of texture. Western realistic techniques such as perspective, light and shade, and layers are used. elements to perform.

The peony is graceful and luxurious, with vivid colors and charming charm. The background of the picture is elegant, the turkey and peony are exquisite and realistic, and the combination of the two colors is harmonious and unified. This is undoubtedly a masterpiece combining Chinese and Western.

This Turkey Picture was not only recorded in Archives Collection of the Office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Qing Palace, it was also published in the thirty-third volume of Chinese Famous Paintings in the eighteenth year of the Republic of China (1929), and in the twenty-third volume of the Republic of China. Year (1931) Hushe Monthly thirty-first volume.

The Turkey Picture jointly produced by Lang Shining and Jin Tingbiao is well documented and passed down in an orderly manner. It is definitely a fine work among the paintings of the Qing Dynasty.

Xiao Yao appreciates the techniques and colors used in this painting very much.

In terms of technique: the feathery lines are neatly arranged, short and fine lines are expressed on the Goule, similar to Western sketch lines. This kind of line is based on the change of light. In the backlight, the ink line is lighter, and in the backlight, the ink line is thicker. The line is used to cover the surface, and the color (ocher, cyan) is added to form this artistic effect of expressing feathers.

The lines on the neck of Turkey Picture are short and thin, and they are drawn clockwise. Titanium white is added as a highlight in the middle, and then rendered. Cyanine, head blue, two green, titanium dioxide, etc. are used for color rendering.

These rich color rendering skills, lifelike realism, accurate modeling ability, and fine and neatly arranged line techniques are an important basis for judging the artistic level of a western painter. Besides, other painters do not have such a high level of western painting.

In terms of color: Turkey Picture is very rich in the use of pigments. Among the seemingly uniform tones, it uses more than 20 kinds of pigments, many of which are between blue and blue, such as the feathers on the feathers. Cyan, blue head, ochre, carmine and alum white; cyanine, head green, two green, and alum white for the neck; red dart, carmine, and alum white for the head; gamboge and alum white for the peck; garcinia and alum white for the peck brownish red, ocher, magenta, titanium white.

In terms of detail depiction: the white space around the eyelids, the high-gloss treatment of the eyeballs, the rendering of the eye socket colors (red dart, magenta, alum white), the posture and lines of the claws are all very skillful.

Xiao Yao liked this painting very much, and after appreciating it carefully, he couldn't put it down and put it back on the shelf, and then picked up another painting to look at.

This painting is still the work of Castiglione, and it is actually a relatively rare Portrait of Qianlong.

In this painting, the faces of the characters are depicted delicately, with obvious traces of European painting methods. It was created by Castiglione independently in the early Qianlong period.

Castiglione's works in the early Qianlong period, because the painter was young and vigorous, the depiction of the faces of the characters was more detailed, and all the paintings were completed by Castiglione alone.

Considering that this painting was completed by Castiglione independently, and it is also a portrait of Qianlong, the price should be around 170 million RMB. And Turkey Picture was completed by Castiglione and Jin Tingbiao in cooperation. Although the scale is larger, the value is lower. His estimated price is about 80 million.

The third picture scroll that Xiao Yao opened is still Castiglione's work, and it is his exquisite painting Eight Horses.

Castiglione has many horse-themed works, but this picture is definitely a masterpiece among similar themes.

In terms of painting skills, Castiglione created a novel painting method different from traditional painting. He uses Chinese brushes, paper and colors, but he can use European painting methods to focus on expressing the horse's anatomical structure, sense of volume and texture of fur, so that the horse image in his brush is accurate in shape, proportionate, and concave-convex. The ancient Chinese painters used continuous and powerful lines to outline the outline of objects.

He uses fine short lines to describe the horse's shape, fur folds, protruding blood vessels and tendons under the fur, or uses the depth of color to express the horse's concave and convex muscles, which is different from traditional Chinese painting. The image of the horse in the painting is quite different.

In the court more than 200 years ago, this unique painting method was loved by the emperor, and thus influenced the painting style of some Chinese court painters, so that this method of painting horses combining Chinese and Western styles is still used today. There are many heirs.

Needless to say, Xu Beihong's position in the history of painting has extensive and profound artistic accomplishments, and he is good at sketching and oil painting. He is especially creative in Chinese figures, animals, and landscapes, which has opened up a new realm for modern Chinese painting.