Interpreting art in a different light

A portrait of Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty, tentatively attributed to Italian Jesuit missionary painter Giuseppe Castiglione. Yang is standing right in front of a portrait of Emperor Yongzheng, whose father Emperor Kangxi, considered the greatest Qing ruler, harbored a passionate interest toward Western painting, which directly facilitated the arrival in China of many missionary artists. "While many Western paintings indicated strongly at a single light source through the dramatic interplay between light and shadow, the missionary artists, in their attempt to reconcile two artistic traditions, had made their works appear as if they had been painted in open light, which readily deleted all darkness." The aforementioned Emperor Yongzheng portrait has been tentatively attributed to Giuseppe Castiglione, an Italian Jesuit missionary painter who served three Qing emperors — Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong. A friend of Attiret and a master of fusion when it came to mixing artistic influences, Castiglione, whose Chinese name Lang Shining implied serenity and harmony, saw his fame reach its height during the reign of Emperor Qianlong, who declared him as "standing head and shoulder above all other portraitists ".