Thanks to the invention of photography, the effect is almost as good as the eye can see, so it can accurately capture the true appearance of people and things everywhere. Especially in today's world of smart phones, almost everyone has a machine in hand, and it is easy to take photos of themselves and the people and scenery around them. But before the first photograph was taken by the Frenchman Joseph Nicéphore Niépce in 1826 (also known as 1827), portraits of people circulated in the form of paintings, with fidelity relying on the painter's personal skill, and the imaging varied according to the painter's style.
Therefore, how big is the gap between some portraits of people who have been handed down in later generations and the appearance of real people? This is a mystery. In particular, the Chinese painting style, which is known for having more "freehand" than "realistic", may also be interfered with by a number of external factors when painting, which often affects its authenticity. However, this situation began to change during the Kang Yongqian period of the Qing Dynasty (or kang yongqian's prosperous era).
In 1715 (the fifty-fourth year of the Kangxi Dynasty), the Catholic Jesuit missionary Giuseppe Castiglione came to China and was soon summoned to the palace by the Kangxi Emperor as an artist to serve as a court painter. He brought in the realistic painting style of the West, so that the Chinese court figures and scenery from the early Qing Dynasty to the middle of the qing dynasty could be more realistic and circulated.
When Lang Shining died in 1766 (the thirty-first year of Qianlong) at the age of 78, he had crossed the Three Dynasties of Kang, Yong, and Qian, and served the court for half a century. He was described by the world as "known for his good realism", and the portraits of the empresses he painted were considered to be easier for future generations to understand their faces.
However, in 1793, the British ordered Macartney to lead a huge delegation to China and visit Qianlong at the Rehe Palace. At that time, a young British painter William Alexander (William Alexander) came as an assistant to the group painters, and in addition to painting a large number of paintings that reflected the chinese world style at that time, his book "Illustration of Chinese Clothing and Crown Customs" also depicted the Qianlong Emperor. We can look at the true appearance of Qianlong in the pen of another painter from different angles.
Alexander's Envoy of Macartney, who followed him, visited China in the name of King George III of England wishing Qianlong a happy birthday, at the end of the Qianlong Dynasty, and the country was at its peak. However, under the appearance of prosperity, there are all kinds of crises lurking. As a member of the mission, Alexander also visited Tianjin, Beijing, Chengde, Hangzhou, Guangzhou and Macao, creating a large number of sketches and watercolors, and his paintings made the world more aware of China at that time.
Qianlong's appearance is preserved in the paintings of Lang Shining and Alexander, respectively, and he may be the closest to the real Chinese emperor in the absence of photographic techniques.