Admire the flowers and birds paintings of the Qing court painter Lang Shining

Lang Shining, who came to China in the fifty-fourth year of the Qing Dynasty, immediately entered the imperial palace as a court painter, went through the three dynasties of Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong, engaged in painting in China for more than 50 years, and participated in the design of the Western-style building of the Yuanmingyuan, and was one of the top ten painters of the Qing Dynasty court.

Lang Shining was good at painting horses, portraits, flowers and beasts, and paintings on historical themes, and his style emphasized the fusion of Western painting techniques with traditional Chinese brush and ink, which was loved by the emperor and greatly influenced the court painting and aesthetic taste of the Qing Dynasty after the Kangxi Dynasty.

His major works include "Ten Horse Dogs", "Hundred Juns", "Qianlong Great Reading Map", "Ruigu Map", "Flower and Bird Diagram", "Hundred Zi Diagram", "Jurui Diagram", "Xian calyx Changchun Atlas", "Heart Writing Zhiping Map" ("Qianlong Emperor Concubine Picture Scroll") and so on.

In the Qing Dynasty's "Examination of Paintings and Calligraphy in the Ou Bao Luo Room", it is recorded: "Lang Shining, enshrined in the Inner Court, painted horses and workers in the figure house, and mostly from the West. The virgin Zhang Yanshan has a small ink horse ruler, mounted on a mirror screen, for the Feng Shu painting, smelling the Yanshu Nan Shangshu; I also saw that there were five cats playing with each other in a large frame, falling flowers all over the ground, tender grass surrounded by stones, and the gods were real, and the appearance of the writing, Gai Xi, was also painted. ”

Qing Lang Shining," "The Six Yellow Thorns and the Fish Peony of the Immortal Calyx Evergreen Figure"

Lang Shining's "Xiancai Changchun Atlas" contains a total of 16 pictures. Divided into four flowers, each with boulders, feathers and grasses, is a rare masterpiece of fusion Of Chinese and Western painting methods, each painting is 28.4 cm wide and 33.7 cm high. The 16 paintings are, in order: Peony, Peach Blossom, Peony, Begonia and Magnolia, Caryophyllum, Yellow Thorn and Fish Peony, Yu Meiren and Butterfly Flower, Cherry, Poppy, Purple and White Lilac, Lily and Tangled Peony, Green Bamboo Morning Glory, Lotus Flower and Cigu Flower, Bean Flower, Cockscomb Flower, Chrysanthemum. His painting method adds Western light and shadow perspective, coloring and coloring to be intense, giving people real and vivid, which is an early work of Lang Shining in China.

Lang Shining's flower and bird paintings can be used as biology class flip charts because of their realistic and exquisite images. Lang Shining spent almost all his life as a Painter of the Qing Court, and most of his paintings were composed of "Entering the Imperial Palace", all of which appeared to be meticulously drawn and cautious.

Qing Lang Shining "Song Crane Diagram"

The combination of Chinese and Western painting forms of Lang Shining is indeed more suitable for the style of flower and bird works, but the Chinese painting of this style is only represented by Lang Shining, and in the end it has not become a popular trend, the reason may be that it is too realistic, not the style of Chinese painting. In later generations, when the West is gradually learning from the East, such a leaf improvement is not enough for training.

Lang Shining's "SongHe Tu" refers to the Western painting method, and the rubbing is not obvious, but it has a good three-dimensional sense. The physical dynamics of the two cranes on the screen are extremely vivid, and they seem to be talking about love. Cang pine stands between two cranes, the boulder (painted by Tang Dai) stands behind the cang pine, the ancient pine is strong and upright, the stems are curved, the pine roots are bare and intertwined, the pine branches are upside down, the pine needles are like needles, the appearance is vivid and vivid, and the ground is painted with various flowers and plants, each with its own state. The use of brush, ink, and color application in this painting is quite different from traditional Chinese painting. The painting contains the reputation of the pine crane for longevity, wealth and longevity.

Qing Lang Shining "Noon Rui Tu"

In "Noon Ruitu", the celadon vase is interspersed with puddle leaves, pomegranate flowers and hollyhock flowers, and the tray contains plums and cherries, and several rice dumplings are scattered aside. The objects such as zongzi and pucao in the picture suggest that the painting was painted for the traditional Chinese festival "Dragon Boat Festival". In terms of composition, the objects in the painting are scattered and arranged in a positive triangle, giving people a sense of visual stability. The painting method uses the shade of color and the change of light and shadow to show the three-dimensional sense of flowers, leaves, fruits and porcelain bottles; especially the shoulders of porcelain bottles, which are mostly found in the "highlight" technique of European painting, which can make the viewer clearly appreciate the techniques of Western oil painting.

According to the archives of the Qing Dynasty Ministry of Internal Affairs, this picture should have been made in the 10th year of Yongzheng (1732) and belongs to Lang Shining's early works in China.

Qing Lang Shining "Song Xian YingZhi Tu"

The Song Xian Yingzhi Tu was painted in the second year of Yongzheng (1724 AD) to celebrate the birthday of the Yongzheng Emperor. The work is an obvious use of Western anatomy, perspective and other concepts.

In the picture, the ancient pine branches are dry and curved, the pine needles are dense, and several strange stones are tragically staggered in the stream. A white eagle stood proudly on a high rock and looked back. There are reishi mushrooms growing between stones or at the roots of trees. Pine trees and ganoderma lucidum both mean auspiciousness and longevity. The penmanship is stable and precise, the color is brilliant, the attention is paid to the change of light and shade, and the strong three-dimensional effect is a huge masterpiece of Lang Shining.

The curved and coiled pine branches are covered with leaves, the bark is mottled, and the white eagle standing in the center is extremely prominent, and the texture of the feathers is very strong.

Chinese painting is not only about treating landscape animals and plants as natural beings, but also about giving the painted objects a certain metaphor. In terms of color, eagle white, pine green, zhi brown red, tupo color and vine rose pollen purple, are also different from the Chinese tradition, typical of the Lang Shining style of vivid, gorgeous and heavy. The paintings of cang pine, eagle, ganoderma lucidum, mountain stone, and flowing water in the picture mostly mean strong, long life and auspiciousness in Chinese culture.

Qing Lang Shining "One Peony of the Immortal Calyx Evergreen Map"

"Peony, one of the Spring Drawings of the Immortal Calyx", is a representative work of Lang Shining's heavy paintings. The picture is very realistic, the pen is neat and abrupt. This drawing brush sets colors, which fully reflects the characteristics of Western painting techniques. In his creation, Lang Shining drew on the many advantages of his predecessors and created his own unique style. That is, in the technique of flowers, the flowers use the technique of Zhou Zhimian's "hooking flowers and dotting leaves", and the flowers and leaves are combined with Yun Shouping's "boneless flower" painting method, only with sharp lines to outline the leaf veins.

Qing Lang Shining"Peacock Opening Screen"

"Peacock Opening Screen" shows a male peacock spreading its beautiful tail feathers in a garden full of flowers, showing off to another male peacock. This is a work that fully expresses the integration of Chinese and Western painting techniques. The mountain stone adopts the traditional Chinese "green landscape" painting method, and the fine moss is added, and the tree branches and the body of the peacock are painted with European chiaroscuro to highlight the three-dimensional sense and the structural changes of the details. Peony flowers use the traditional Chinese gongbi painting method, while magnolia and begonia use the light and shade changes of Western painting, and there is a refraction of color shadows on the leaves, and the texture is prominent. The ground is also fully covered with colors, which is not like the white space in traditional techniques, and the sense of perspective is strong in space.

Qing Lang Shining", "The Wolf of the Ten Dogs"

In Qing Palace painting, Lang Shining pioneered a novel method different from traditional Chinese painting, using Chinese brushes, paper silk and colors to interpret the structure of animals in a European way of painting, and the sense of volume has a strong three-dimensional effect. In this work, the depiction of the dog uses a sketch-style method to achieve a lifelike effect through the change of light and shadow, but the depiction of the environment follows the traditional techniques of Chinese painting, hooking, wrinkles, dots, dyeing, part-time work with writing, mainly work, creating a unique beautiful charm and fur texture of Chinese flower and bird painting, making the animal shape accurate and vivid. The painting was written by the university scholar Ji Huang and titled "Ten Horse Dog Diagram", which not only expressed the Qianlong Emperor's love for dogs, but also implied the meaning of ten perfect (dog) ten beautiful (jun), so it is also called "Ten Perfect Ten Beautiful Pictures".

Qing Lang Shining", "Flower and Bird Diagram"

The Qing Dynasty art historian Hu Jing recorded in the "Catalogue of Paintings of the State Dynasty": "The paintings of Shi Ning are of Western Law, and they can be compared with the Chinese and French references, and their painted flowers have a vivid posture, not if the Zhan Zhan of the Zhongyong Hand is compared to the rope ruler." However, roughly do not depart from the old habits, watch the bird Han Sijun, the high temple still ordered Jin Tingbiao to imitate Li Gonglin's pen to supplement the map, Yu Shining did not allow its divine perfection, and the first xu its shape, also like the mathematical theory must be combined with the Chinese and Western two laws, righteousness is prepared, the great sage's balance, although the small path of the heart to examine and good at both ends. ”

The flowers painted in "Flowers and Birds" are exquisitely painted and colorful. It fully demonstrates Lang Shining's Western painting skills. The shape of this figure is accurate and fine, and the sketch and light and shade effects make the objects in the figure have a relatively strong sense of concave and convex three-dimensionality.

Qing Lang Shining", "Hundred Butterfly Figures"

The picture of "Hundred Butterflies" uses the technique of Western oil painting and uses bold and beautiful colors. Butterflies in the painting, dancing, the color is dazzling, bright, realistic, realistic techniques to depict more than a hundred butterflies to life.

Although Lang Shining's ornate courtyard paintings were appreciated by the emperor and dignitaries at that time, they were also despised by later generations of literati, who ridiculed these paintings for not escaping the suspicion of craftsman paintings.

Qing Lang Shining "Bamboo Yin Xi Lynx Map"

"Bamboo Yin Xi Lynx Diagram" is painted with pen and color, and bitter melon vines are wrapped around green bamboo. There is a hound under the melon vine, with its head hanging high. Hounds have shiny fur and skeletal muscles are realistic texture. Right drop paragraph: "Shōrō Shinin Kyo-e". A seal of "Treasure of YiQin" on the upper plutonium shows that this picture is collected by Prince Yunxiang of Yi.

Qing Lang Shining "JuruiTu"

Lang Shining has painted two "Jurui Tu" axes in the first year of Yongzheng and three years respectively, and although the early one is Shanglang Shining uses the pigments and techniques of Chinese painting, he emphasizes the three-dimensional sense and texture of the shape, especially adding the changes of light and shadow emphasized in Western painting, in essence, it is closer to Western still life painting. The latter one follows the traditional Chinese technique of heavy color flowers, diluting the light and shade changes of light, and expressing the sense of layering and space with the shade of color. However, in the depiction of celadon vases, "highlights" are added to emphasize the crystalline and round texture of the vase, which is a combination of Chinese and Western.

Qing Lang Shining "Begonia Magnolia Diagram"

In "Begonia Magnolia Diagram", magnolia and begonia flowers bloom, two birds perched on the magnolia branches, one up and one down, one pitch and one up, echoing each other, the bird mood image is realistic, and the begonia and magnolia are accurately shaped, reflecting the superb sketching skills of the painter Lang Shining. The scenery is exquisitely arranged, and the guests and hosts echo appropriately, which can be described as a rare masterpiece that combines Chinese and Western painting methods.

Qing Lang Shining "Xian calyx changchun figure two peach blossoms"

"The Second Peach Blossom of the Immortal Calyx Changchun Diagram" not only depicts the peach blossom but also depicts two spring swallows very realistically. The two swallows snuggle up to each other, and the posture is feminine and healthy, which is very interesting. Peach blossoms are commonly used in Chinese painting to fold branches. Since ancient times, peach blossoms have symbolized popularity and prosperity, and swallows also represent auspicious wealth, husband and wife love, and the meaning of building a new house or settling in a high position.

Qing Lang Shining", "Auspicious And Rich Flowers and Birds"

The two birds in the picture of "Auspicious and Rich Flowers and Birds" focus on the texture expression of feathers, and the eyes of the birds are dotted with white powder to point out the "highlight"; the trunks of the trees are mottled, drawing the lighted side and the backlit side, showing the difference between light and shade; the flowers and petals in the upper part of the frame have a certain thickness and a strong texture. The composition of the picture is quiet and harmonious, the colors are bright and full, implying auspiciousness and wealth, guotai and min'an. Although the painting still maintains the basic pattern of traditional Chinese painting, the characteristics of European painting can still be seen everywhere in the painting method, that is, the painting style of Lang Shining.

In the lower left corner of the picture, there are six characters for the painting family: "Minister Lang Shining Gong Painting", indicating that this work was specially painted by Lang Shining in the court for the emperor. This painting is loved by many emperors in terms of both allegorical and artistic appreciation, and there are treasures of the two emperors of Qianlong and Jiaqing on it, as well as the collection seals of Sanxi Hall and Shiqu Baodi, which shows Lang Shining's position in court painting.

Qing Lang Shining, "The Seven Yu Beauties and Butterfly Flowers of the Immortal Calyx Evergreen Figure"