One hundred horses

In the XVIII century, court painters in China reached a new monumental scale of work and sophisticated technology ^[1] . One of the main figures in this process was the Jesuit missionary Giuseppe Castiglione, who came to China from Italy. Engaged in monumental works earlier in his homeland, the master created a new style in China, combining the features of Western realism and traditional Chinese painting ^[1] .

The artist created a scroll with hundreds of horses commissioned by the imperial court in 1724 (records about this were preserved in the archives) ^[2] , where horses were one of his favorite subjects ^[3] . Subsequently, the theme of horses became one of the main in the work of Giuseppe Castiglione, and "One Horses" - his main work ^[4] . The art historians Cecile and Michael Birdley wrote that before the creation of the scroll of Castiglione, a sample was offered; presumably this source of inspiration was the work of Li Gonglin's “Herd on Grazing”, which depicted 1,200 horses and more than 140 people ^[4] . The scale of the scroll itself suggests a European approach to image ^[1] . The sketch of the scroll, made several years earlier, was created in a traditionally European manner, despite the use of the brush ^[1] . The landscape is drawn in a Western style, the figures of horses are often depicted in a shorter perspective, plants - with the help of spontaneous cross strokes ^[1] . The work was created in 1728 under Emperor Yongzheng ^[2] . However, for several reasons, Yongzheng never saw the finished scroll ^[5] . The new emperor Qianlong , having seen the scroll in 1735, declared it a masterpiece, and he called Castiglione the chief court artist ^[5] .

Numerous horses are depicted in various poses, some of them rest peacefully on the banks of the river, some jump vigorously ^[2] . The horizon line is at a height of two-thirds of the total height of the image, which creates a full and volumetric perception of the space of the picture ^[2] . In the future , trees, vegetation and other elements of the landscape are created in the right proportions, which helps to create the effect of space. Castiglione’s style of painting differs from traditional Chinese art techniques, using dark and light tones, the artist creates voluminous objects and chiaroscuro . The shapes of the horses themselves are indicated by lines and color areas, however Castiglione deliberately did not make more contrasting shadows on horses, mixing the features of two heterogeneous painting traditions ^[2] .

The movement in the picture is created from right to left ^[4] . On the right edge of the scroll is an old pine tree . On the left edge, three horses crossed the river, and everyone else follows them. The perspective is created using different plans, all of them at different distances from the viewer depict horses for different activities ^[6] . The farthest plan is conveyed by light, almost transparent tones ^[6] . Of the innovative features, it is worth noting the half-naked figure of a horse beater in the background - previously, in Chinese painting, a naked human body did not appear and was considered almost marginal ^[6] . On the sketch, the artist depicted two naked figures, but in the end, due to different approaches to nudity in two cultures, he left only one and the one that is less evident ^[7] .

In the presence of innovative elements that came from Europe, the scroll is subject to traditional Chinese canons. As the Chinese calligrapher and artist Dong Qichang (1555-1636) wrote: “Drawn figures must watch and talk. Flowers and fruits should be directed downwind and moistened with dew. Birds must twitter, animals must run. The general mood of the picture should rise above real things ... The sources of the flows should be clearly indicated. With such qualities, even if the artist is not famous, his work will be defined as the work of a great master ” ^[7] . On the scroll there are also areas that are not filled with a pattern, characteristic of Chinese painting ^[7] . The trees in the picture are depicted in the Chinese manner, but with the use of shade ^[4] . According to Chinese canons, roots, ornate and curved trunks are shown in trees, the bark resembles scales ^[8] . The trees chosen for work are Buddhist symbols . Oak is a symbol of male power, willow is a symbol of humility, pine is longevity and stamina, maple (and its leaves) are abundance, sophora is a meeting with immortals, fertility and good luck ^[8] . In the foreground, on the roots of trees, lingzhi mushrooms are visible, which are the traditional motif of Chinese painting and considered sacred ^[9] .

• One Hundred Horses, scroll and sketch
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• Cécile Beurdeley, Michel Beurdeley. Giuseppe Castiglione: a Jesuit painter at the court of the Chinese emperors. - CE Tuttle Co., 1971. - 204 p. - ISBN 0804809879 . - ISBN 9780804809870 .
• Marco Musillo. The Shining Inheritance: Italian Painters at the Qing Court, 1699-1812. - Getty Publications, 2016 .-- 184 p. - ISBN 1606064746 . - ISBN 9781606064740 .
• Suraeva N. G. Giuseppe Castiglione and his painting "One Hundred Horses" // Bulletin of the Russian State Pedagogical University. A.I. Herzen. - 2010. - No. 126 . - S. 269—276 .