[vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_column_text]For a painter, striving for spirit resonance<\/em> chiefly means creating a special harmony between his own soul and the subject\u2019s in order to represent his spirit through forms, capturing the vital flow which animates them. This is the first of the \u2018Six Fundamental Principles of Painting\u2019 codified by Xie He, a painter and portraitist of the 5th century A.D. who includes \u2018spirit resonance\u2019 among the values that must inform any work of art worthy of this name.<\/p>\n This fundamental principle also applies to the particular genre of portrait painting, which has a long tradition in China despite having been grossly underrated for a long time, also due to the movement of \u2018breaking with the feudal past\u2019 which, starting from the 1950s, caused many works of art to be destroyed or sold off and thus dispersed on the international art market. It is only recently that a renewed interest by collectors, scholars, and art lovers sparked an unprecedented number of in-depth studies.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_separator type=”normal” color=”#1e73be”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column width=”2\/3″][vc_column_text]Recent studies directly connect the portrait tradition (Chinese xiezhenhua<\/em>, literally: \u2018real life drawing\u2019)1<\/a> with very ancient mural paintings or paintings on cloth,2<\/a> and particularly with tomb paintings of the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-220 A.D.) and of the Tang (618-907). Unfortunately, the number of paintings that have come down to us is too scarce to enable an historical study of the evolution of portrait painting from its origins. Chinese critical studies are also lacking, for, starting from the Song dynasty (960-1279), the refined scholar-artists of the best Chinese tradition always considered portraiture as an inferior artistic expression little worthy of analysis and study.<\/p>\n The few elements we have, however, enable us (also by analogy with tomb paintings of the same age) to infer that the oldest portraits usually showed the subject in full length, standing in full natural light, without any chiaroscuro<\/em> or three-dimensional effects, on a blank background in order to give prominence to the figure. The figure was outlined with few lines accentuating the elegance and \u2018heroic spirit\u2019 of the subject. The real aim was to transmit to future generations the best qualities of the persons depicted in order to turn them into models of social ethics. For this reason, too, the subject was preferably caught in the act of performing a specific action within the context of a clearly identifiable historical fact, almost as if to provide visual proof of his taking part in the event.<\/p>\n From the very beginning the artist sticks to the principle of chuanshen<\/em>, i.e. \u2018showing the soul\u2019 or \u2018conveying the spirit\u2019 of the subject. This often justifies partially sacrificing the faithfulness and detail of the physiognomy. Chinese portaiture is thus never a mere transcription of physiognomic characteristics, but rather a combination of physical fidelity and of what the painter sees as the intimate being of man, based on the knowledge of his life and on the artist\u2019s own intuition.<\/p>\n Starting from the Tang dynasty a preference for landscape painting and flowers or animals begins to form. This tendency will gain ground with the cultural hegemony of aristocratic scholar-artists who, from Song times onwards, will assert an absolute pre-eminence of flowers and birds in painting, and even more of landscape as the only true pictorial art worthy of this name. This attitude will continue during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, and it will in fact relegate portrait painting and its artists into a closed niche, almost an enclave of \u2018sons of a minor god\u2019 within which the peculiar specialisation of \u2018ancestor painting\u2019 will evolve.<\/p>\n <\/a>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”7887″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_shadow_3d” onclick=”img_link_large” qode_css_animation=””][vc_empty_space][vc_empty_space][vc_single_image image=”7880″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_shadow_3d” onclick=”img_link_large” qode_css_animation=””][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”7957″ img_size=”medium” style=”vc_box_shadow_3d” onclick=”img_link_large” qode_css_animation=””][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”2\/3″][vc_column_text]However, within the intellectual \u00e9lite of \u2018literati-painting\u2019 the pleasure survives of portraying themselves intent on their favourite occupations of reading or contemplation of nature, or of depicting artists and poets of the past in order to keep their memory. But this is sui generis<\/em> portraiture, aimed at suggesting to the observer the spiritual nature of the person portrayed and the ideal of artistic contemplative life that unites both painter and subject. Its preferred technique is monochrome ink or very faint colours, essential, almost calligraphic brush strokes reminiscent of chan<\/em> (zen) painting conventions. The painting is often complemented by poems and dedications. Calligraphy itself is a form of art in the tradition of Chinese scholars, or rather it is Art par excellence<\/em>, along with painting and poetry, which are closely linked as artistic expressions typical of the \u2018literatus\u2019, of the aristocrat of culture and erudition, member of a true artistic-cultural \u00e9lite. In the Chinese custom, the painter had the possibility of adding a poem to the painting in order to complete its content and to better define the states of mind he wished to express with the image. Alternatively, other scholars or collectors would add their thoughts and verses written in nice calligraphy, as a gesture of homage to the painter or to witness their participation to his feelings.3<\/a>\u00a0 With the Yuan (1279-1368)\u2014the period of Mongol rule which, under the influence of the governing foreign class culture sees a relaxation in the hegemony of the scholarly tradition\u2019s aesthetic canons and idioms\u2014a relative revaluation of portrait painting can be observed, with more attention for the physiognomic study and a more careful modelling of faces and expressions, while the rendering of clothes and fabrics is achieved with a few essential lines. In the same period a first faint distinction starts to be made between figure painting and commemorative portraits, and the first few names of celebrated portrait painters are recorded. To one of them, Wang Yi (14th century), we also owe the first theory codifying the standards and techniques of portraiture understood as xiezhenhua<\/em> (real life drawing). These idioms, techniques and styles will then be refined in later times, accompanying the great flowering of portraiture between the 16th and the 19th century.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n <\/a>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column width=”1\/5″][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/5″][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/5″][vc_column_text][\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/5″][vc_single_image image=”7955″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”right” style=”vc_box_shadow_3d” onclick=”img_link_large” qode_css_animation=””][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/5″][vc_single_image image=”7837″ img_size=”medium” style=”vc_box_shadow_3d” onclick=”img_link_large” qode_css_animation=””][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_separator type=”normal” color=”#1e73be”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column width=”5\/6″][vc_column_text]Just as the Taoist and Buddhist thoughts\u2014with their implication of love for nature and for all living beings and with their ideal of nature and man partaking in the same emotional states\u2014are the soul of landscape painting and flowers, birds and bamboo painting, so the Confucian culture fosters the development of portrait painting, providing a background of ideals and thought to this painting genre. Indeed, on the one hand the Confucian virtue of filial piety encourages the depiction of exemplary persons from the past in order to make them a model for new generations; on the other it inspires the custom of portraying one\u2019s own ancestors as a sign of deference within the practices of the cult of ancestors.<\/p>\n Between the 16th and the 17th century two different styles of portraiture begin to take form. The scholar-painters like to paint the subjects in an environment expressing their spirit, character and tastes. Later on, the wealthy bourgeoisie will copy this style in its own fashion, and it will become common practice for a son to commemorate his deceased parents by commissioning paintings depicting them busy in their usual favourite occupations. But also an important family event, an anniversary, a turning point in a career, can be remembered and solemnised with a painting of this type. In parallel the school of the more properly commemorative portrait develops, with the function of recording the ancestor\u2019s image for ritual purposes. These paintings are used to open the funeral procession, and in some cases can even replace the bier itself (nowadays, in funeral rites still connected with tradition, this function is performed by large photographs of the deceased). The portrait is then kept in the family and displayed on particular occasions connected with the cult of ancestors. The more affluent families, whose houses have adequate dedicated spaces, may keep their ancestor portraits permanently on display behind the ritual \u2018tablets\u2019 bearing their names, in a special room where the domestic rites for the ancestors are performed. In the tradition of the Confucian-inspired ancestor cult, these tablets (which may be of wood, ivory, jade or other more or less precious materials) have the important function of representing the spirit of the deceased, and each family keeps them in a dedicated place in the house where they are the object of care and rituals in honour of the ancestors.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/6″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”7869″ img_size=”medium” style=”vc_box_shadow_3d” onclick=”img_link_large” qode_css_animation=””][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”7833″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_shadow_3d” onclick=”img_link_large” qode_css_animation=””][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”7890″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”right” style=”vc_box_shadow_3d” onclick=”img_link_large” qode_css_animation=””][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_column_text]The ancestor portrait, due to the commemorative and ritual purposes which originated it, has a substantially different basic approach compared to the informal portrait. In fact, the latter is often an idealised depiction of the subject, set in a narrative scene, and it implies a significant amount of creativity, imagination and sensitivity on the part of the artist, who must be able to capture the deepest nature of the person portrayed and convey to the observer a general idea of his life, habits, tastes and affections,[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”7768″ img_size=”medium” style=”vc_box_shadow_3d” onclick=”img_link_large” qode_css_animation=””][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”8007″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_shadow_3d” onclick=”img_link_large” qode_css_animation=””][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”7659″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”right” style=”vc_box_shadow_3d” onclick=”img_link_large” qode_css_animation=””][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_column_text]Conversely, the ancestor portrait\u2019s primary function is to fix the subject\u2019s image for ritual purposes, hence it tends to focus on the face physiognomy and on a series of external details, which become highly symbolic canonical features, in order to provide as much information as possible about the \u2018public\u2019 aspect of the subject: character, moral qualities, status, role, rank.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_column_text]It is generally a vertical scroll that can easily be hung, showing the ancestor in full-length, in a rigidly frontal and symmetrical stance conveying a sense of hieratic immobility. \u201cThe ancestor<\/em>,\u2014 write Jan Stuart and Evelyn S. Rawski(4)<\/a>\u2014seems shrouded in stillness, removed from all worldly activity, and never performs a gesture more active than fingering a costume accessory: [\u2026] an iconic convention meant to inspire awe and devotion. [\u2026] emphasis is laid on the fact that he is finally out of a human state and has achieved a supermundane level of existence [\u2026]. The emphatically static, rigid pose of the sitters manifests this rarefied, imperturbable state of being<\/em>.\u201d. The subject wears formal clothes, with well-visible symbols of rank and social function. The face, placed at the image\u2019s focal point, is faithfully depicted with a painstaking care for details. The body, on the other hand, is summarily represented, almost as if it were just a pretext for showing the formal dress and the rank insignia. Usually, especially in the case of emperors or their consorts, imperial princes, high-ranking dignitaries, the portraits were made from life, with the subject sitting for the preparation of his official portrait. Outside of this privileged \u00e9lite, however, it was not uncommon for a posthumous portrait to be ordered by the descendants, on the basis of other images and of the personal knowledge the artist might have had of the deceased.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/em>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_column_text]From Ming to Qing<\/strong><\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”7953″ img_size=”large” style=”vc_box_shadow_3d” onclick=”img_link_large” qode_css_animation=””][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”2\/3″][vc_column_text]Portrait painting becomes established in China, albeit as a minor art, chiefly with the Ming dynasty, and starting from the 16th century it reaches the peak of its flowering, in parallel with the maximum specialisation of the artists. At court a permanent painting studio is set up to allow members of the imperial family to be portrayed, but also outside the court the \u2018fad\u2019 for portraits spreads and portrait painters make their fortune. Regional styles also start to take shape, with different idioms and techniques.<\/p>\n In the first decades of the Ming dynasty, for which unfortunately very few examples have survived, strong ties still exist with the older Song and Yuan portraits: the subjects are painted in a conventional way, more often standing or riding a horse rather than seated, with the body slightly turned to one side, while the background is left completely blank.(<\/a>5)<\/p>\n Starting from the reign of the emperor Xuande (1426-1435) a new stylistic phase of portraiture begins: the subjects are shown frontally, seated on an accurately reproduced throne, with great attention to the smallest detail of the decoration. The facial expressions are rigid and \u2018starched\u2019, their gazes lost in a supermundane dimension. Imperial portraits particularly emphasise this iconic aspect, almost as if to affirm the imperial role over the subject\u2019s individuality. The background is now treated with faint colours and enriched by the presence of simple furnishings for everyday use, like small tables and stands with flower vases and desk accessories or tea sets; but it becomes completely empty again with the reign of Wanli (1573-1619), which ushers in the final phase of the dynasty. There are often secondary personages, servants or maids, behind the subjects or in the background, in the act of serving tea or proffering symbolic objects.<\/p>\n The most apparent innovation in imperial portraits of this period is the replacement of the throne with a wooden chair sumptuously draped with a cover, or, for rank officials, with an animal skin (tiger or leopard). The decorative motifs of the carpet, on the other hand, appear much simplified, and the carpet itself tends to become the prerogative of the aristocracy, whereas the scholars prefer to do without it, and commoners are not entitled to it anyway.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_column_text]The portrait dress, too, reflects this changed approach. Emperors and members of the imperial family are now portrayed in formal dress, whereas scholar-officials prefer an informal attire<\/p>\n The use of multi-generational portraits also becomes increasingly popular. In this case the men generally wear informally, while their wives use formal dress, complete with the consort\u2019s rank insignia. The paintings of couples (husband\/wife), or of three people (husband\/two wives) also gain popularity.<\/p>\n Within the Ming portraiture (and notably late-Ming) two different basic techniques exist: the goule<\/em> or \u2018outline\u2019 method, which prescribes thin outlines and light layers of colour wash, with repeated applications of colour to heighten shaded parts (this method was particularly common in the northern regions), and the method of the Jiangnan school<\/em> (similar to the old meigu<\/em> or \u2018boneless\u2019 method, that is without outlines) more common in the southern regions, which only uses grades of colour to define lineaments and expressions, achieving remarkable volumetric and perspective effects.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”7835″ img_size=”medium” style=”vc_box_shadow_3d” onclick=”img_link_large” qode_css_animation=””][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”7908″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_shadow_3d” onclick=”img_link_large” qode_css_animation=””][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”7910″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”right” style=”vc_box_shadow_3d” onclick=”img_link_large” qode_css_animation=””][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_column_text]The Manchu-originated Qing dynasty is represented by a higher number and a greater variety of portraits that have come down to us, which makes critical appraisal easier.<\/p>\n Initially it inherits the two basic techniques of the Ming predecessors, i.e. the goule<\/em> method and the Jiangnan<\/em> method, which maintain their traditional distribution in the north and south respectively. The paintings exhibited are connected with the Jiangnan<\/em> school method, and they also show its evolution in time. With the reigns of the three emperors Kangxi (1662-1722), Yongzheng (1723-1735), and Qianlong (1736-1795), representing the dynasty\u2019s apex of power and artistic-cultural aperture, the southern style proves to be quite receptive and open to the influence of Western painting, brought in particular by the Jesuit missionaries, who also employed their artistic skills to fulfil their mission of cultural mediation and evangelisation. Shading and light are treated in a more realistic way, obtaining completely new volumetric effects. The only point of detail on which the Chinese artists remain firmly tied to their more genuine tradition is the use of a frontal light source (or from above), whereby the subject\u2019s face is always in full light. This general setting remains virtually unchanged until the last decades of the dynasty, but within it five different regional styles originate:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Beijing style<\/em>: painting on silk, thin facial outlines, solemn and rigid expression<\/span><\/p>\n Shanxi style<\/em>: Painting on cloth, face painted separately on paper and pasted on the body, which, like the setting, is painted in bright colours<\/span><\/p>\n Jiangnan style<\/em>: painting on paper, no contour lines, simple, accurately represented dress<\/span><\/p>\n Guangdong style<\/em>: on paper, colourful with sumptuous, accurately ornamented backgrounds<\/span><\/p>\n Fujian style<\/em>: on paper, rigid expression and painstakingly decorated costumes<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”7917″ img_size=”medium” style=”vc_box_shadow_3d” onclick=”img_link_large” qode_css_animation=””][vc_empty_space][vc_single_image image=”7920″ img_size=”medium” style=”vc_box_shadow_3d” onclick=”img_link_large” qode_css_animation=””][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”2\/3″][vc_column_text]The size of Qing portraits is relatively standardised, while the range of subjects includes portraits in court dress, informal groups, half-length portraits and multi-generational groups. The latter represented in most cases a cheaper alternative to individual portraits, thus bringing them within the reach of less wealthy families. They normally depicted from two to five generations, but, above all in the northern regions and in more recent paintings, the number of people portrayed could reach several dozens. The high number of subjects and the limited size may sometimes be detrimental to the accuracy in the rendering of the individual physiognomies. This is why the single figures often bear their name on the collar or on the shoulder, or written on a \u2018tablet\u2019 placed beside each of them. It also happened that sometimes, when the painting was sold, the descendants \u2018erased\u2019 their ancestors\u2019 names as a form of reservedness: thus it is not unusual to find ornamental motifs hastily painted on the costumes in order to conceal the ideograms of the name, or to see \u2018erased\u2019 name tablets or painted white.<\/p>\n The background, which at the beginning of this dynasty clearly betrays the Ming legacy with the depiction of tables, other items of furniture and carpets, tends to a dramatic simplification toward the middle Qing, reaching by the late Qing the completely blank background typical of the portraits in court dress . By contrast, in multi-generational portraits the background is tendentially much more complex and full of furniture and servants. There is often an architectural element framing the family group, with the same function as the pavilion for the cult of ancestors whenever the house did not have enough room to have a real one. Furthermore, since these portraits were meant to be exhibited in one room, the furniture shown in the background tended to harmonise with the room furniture, achieving in some cases a true continuity with the real room. In the southern regions a trend develops towards an increasing complexity of the backgrounds, overburdened with decorative motifs and ambient details, which tends to generalise in the last years of the empire.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_column_text]Well attested for the entire Qing period is the style of the so-called informal portrait<\/em> (as the portrait on this page) which, inspired by the scholar portraits, depicts the subjects in their daily life, with meticulous care for the face lineaments and expressions and a masterly use of shading and colour without outlines. Conversely, the body, dress, setting details, and secondary figures are depicted in a very traditional fashion.<\/p>\n Towards the end of the dynasty the number of portraits showing the subjects busy in their daily occupations rises dramatically, due to the increasingly popular use, also within the middle classes of the \u2018new rich\u2019, of commissioning both ancestor portraits and informal portraits for special occasions. The evolution of portraiture from an \u00e9lite to a mass production brings about on the one hand a proliferation of scholar-artist works for the aristocratic-cultural class, accompanied by the valuable production of skilled court painters, often, but not always anonymous. On the other hand a large number of portraits is made by more modest, skilful artisans who, also in order to satisfy the considerable number of orders, end up producing portraits for ritual use that become rigidly and repetitively standardised. But this is a recent development (late 19th, early 20th century), when, after the reign of emperor Xianfeng (1851-1861), the increasing popularity of photography and the development in Guangdong of a burgeoning export trade of specially made oil paintings introduce a number of stylistic innovations in the portrait tradition. The use of touching up photographs with water colours, especially to render the colours of court dresses, steers commemorative portraiture in a new direction, and on the threshold of the 20th century it extends to photography. Meanwhile, with the fall of the Qing dynasty and the beginning of the republican age, the fashion of charcoal drawing gains popularity: a new technique seems to push Chinese portraiture out of the rut of tradition and to connect it to a \u2018globalised\u2019 artistic circuit.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_column_text][\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/a><\/p>\n ____________<\/span><\/p>\n Note 1<\/a> In fact the Chinese language offers several ways of designating what we simply call \u201cportrait\u201d: chuanshenhua<\/em>, literally \u2018vivid portrait\u2019, chuanzhenhua<\/em>, literally \u2018true portrait\u2019; xiezhenhua<\/em>, \u2018real-life portrait\u2019; xiezhaohua<\/em>, \u2018portrait from the original\u2019; rongxianghua<\/em>, f\u2019ace portrait\u2019. The choice of one term or another often depends on the historical period, the geographical location, the purpose of the painting, the aim the artist or commissioner had set himself.<\/p>\nOrigins of portrait painting<\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n
Informal portraits and Ancestor portraits<\/span><\/strong><\/h1>\n
\n<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n