Most of people's understanding of the image of the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty comes from the description of film and television dramas, and film and television dramas often make up character images in order to improve ratings, which makes people have a big deviation in their cognition of the true appearance of the Qianlong Emperor, so what is Qianlong in history?
We all know that the ancient Chinese painting techniques did not pursue realism, but focused on conveying the gods, so they failed to truly restore the appearance of the emperor. Until modern times, oil painting gradually arose in the West, and later with the influence of the west wind and the eastward wind, many Western painters set foot on the land of China, and some of them even entered the court and became royal painters. And we can know what Qianlong looks like, we must thank a foreigner, he is the Italian painter Lang Shining.
In fact, Lang Shining was a missionary, and he did not travel to China to paint. During the Kangxi Dynasty, Lang Shining was summoned by the Kangxi Emperor and left him in the Forbidden City, after which Lang Shining became a court painter. After the death of Kangxi, Yongzheng inherited the throne, and there was much speculation at the time that this Westerner, Lang Shining, was likely to be expelled from the Forbidden City by Yongzheng. However, Lang Shining had long been prepared, and when Yongzheng ascended the throne, he presented a well-drawn masterpiece. This made Yongzheng very happy, and Lang Shining was able to continue to stay in the Forbidden City.
When Qianlong succeeded to the throne, Lang Shining ushered in the peak of his life. Qianlong was very enthusiastic about the art of calligraphy and painting, and Lang Shining's painting skills were deeply liked by Qianlong, so not long after Qianlong ascended the throne, he promoted Lang Shining to the chief painter and let him participate in the design of the twelve animal heads of the Yuanmingyuan.
Lang Shining painted a large number of paintings for Qianlong in his lifetime, and the "Qianlong and Later Concubines Picture Scroll" is believed to be known to many people. This painting was painted in the first year of Qianlong and contains portraits of Qianlong and the empress and eleven concubines. The closest thing to Qianlong's true appearance is a painting called "Portrait of the Qianlong Emperor in Half-Body Winter Dress", which is also the work of Lang Shining, in which Qianlong is not wearing a bright yellow dragon robe, but a black fur coat. The eyes are the most common eyes of Asians, single eyelids, eyes are not big or small, nose is straight, bearded, looks like an ordinary person, but I have to say that Qianlong is not ugly. Because this painting was privately painted by Lang Shining for Qianlong, it can more truly show the appearance of Qianlong. The painting is currently in the collection of the Yinchuan Museum of Contemporary Art.