L'imperatore Qianlong in armatura cerimoniale a cavallo

The man who painted this was an Italian Jesuit, Giuseppe Castiglione, who reached Beijing in 1715 and spent the rest of his life as a court artist, known there as Lang Shining. He made the portrait in 1739, showing the young Qianlong Emperor, not yet thirty, in full ceremonial armor on horseback, most likely dressed for the grand review of his troops. Castiglione worked on silk with Chinese brushes and pigments, the traditional materials, but the modeling gives him away. The armor, the horse, and the face are rounded with European light and shadow that Chinese court painting normally avoided. Castiglione served three Qing emperors in turn and died in Beijing in 1766, having never returned to Italy.