The National Palace Museum in Taipei is a treasure-trove of traditional Chinese culture. To introduce the Museum’s superlative collection of works of art to the British public, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the Taipei Representative Office in the UK are in partnership with Asia House, in London, to host the lecture “Giuseppe Castiglione: Jesuit Court Painter to the Qing Emperors” at 18:45 on 30 April at Asia House.
In the sixteenth century, European powers expanded their global interests at an even greater pace. Due to the increasing contact between East and West, China's relationship to the outside world during the 17th and 18th centuries was transformed as well, and nowhere was this transformation more clearly embodied than in the work of the Jesuit painter Giuseppe Castiglione (Lang Shining).
When Jesuit missionaries of the Roman Catholic Church arrived in China, they often brought Western works of art in their missionary work. Among the many Western missionary-painters who came to China, Castiglione (1688-1766) is perhaps the best known. He was sent to China for missionary work in 1714 and served as a court artist to the Kangxi, Yongcheng and Qianlong, three Qing emperors for 51 years. He devoted himself to harmonising Western painting techniques with Chinese styles, while his influence on painting was felt for centuries after his death.
This talk will explore this dramatic integration of Chinese and European artistic styles through the National Palace Museum's unrivalled collection of works painted and influenced by Castiglione and other Jesuits at the Qing court. The speaker, Nixi Cura, is the Arts of China course director at Christie's Education, London. She is currently researching the art of the Qianlong period during the Qing dynasty, when Giuseppe Castiglione was active at the Chinese court.
For further details, please contact:
Asia House
63 New Cavendish Street
London W1G 7LP
www.asiahouse.org
+44(0)20 7307 5454
enquiries@asiahouse.co.uk
Source: National Palace Museum & Asia House
(Photo courtesy: National Palace Museum, Taipei)
