Giuseppe Castiglione

Giuseppe Castiglione, an Italian missionary to China who served as a court artist to 3 emperiors. Well I bring his name up because the picture that I found on line, Ayusi on Horseback, came this weekend. That was when I realised it was painted by this famous artist. And then I realised that the last time I was at the Nat'l Palace Museum in Taipei I had bought another replica piece by him.

This is the work that I bought.

I have been fascinated by the work of the Jesuits in China. It seems they sent the cream of the crop out as missionaries and in China they targeted the intelectual elite, and actually like this man made it into the graces of the Imperial family. The same approach was tried in Japan but was not as successful.