Abstract

CASTILLA, Manuel V.. Giuseppe Castiglione (Lang Shining), Forefather of the First Pictorial-architectural Globalization. Estud. Asia Áfr. [online]. 2016, vol.51, n.3, pp.623-646. ISSN 2448-654X.

The work of the Jesuit lay brother Giuseppe Castiglione (Lang Shining, 1688-1766) developed in Qing China was relatively unknown until the twentieth century. As a result, there is very little research on his pioneering role in the first artistic globalization. Castiglione’s approach to China was mainly apostolic due to missionary action. This mission was based on an enculturation process throughout the exchange of both science and art. This article reveals the rigorous training in linear mathematical perspective Castiglione had acquired in Europe and the importance that it had in the artistic and cultural hybridization in China in the eighteenth century. Thus, its possible impact on later art forms in other territories is the central theme of this work. The Jesuit artist, from an artistic point of view and due to his privileged position at the imperial court, played a decisive role in the new pictorial-architectural methods that were developing in the Qing Dynasty. His murals, portraits, and paintings of horses, flowers and birds were praised and admired by Emperor Qianlong, and much later by European designers and artists. Castiglione enhanced the symbolism and sensitivity of Asian painting with the mystery of the illusionistic magic involving the European perspective. This contained the key and the secret of the geometrical knowledge of Lang Shining. Nevertheless, these effects were not exclusively artistic, but in most cases had a vigorous apostolic dimension. This religious dimension, which we presuppose in Jesuit artists’ paintings, was an essential tool in the process of enculturation. In this sense, G. Castiglione used the linear perspective, not only as a technique that charmed Emperor Qianlong, but also as a powerful instrument for evangelical diffusion. On the other hand, as an architect, G. Castiglione was a pioneer in the design, implementation and execution of monumental architectural pro-jects, which materialized in the construction and interior decoration of the European Palaces at the Gardens of Perfect Brightness (Yuan Ming Yuan) in Beijing. In this original context, it is a difficult task to prove that the theoretical ideas, methods and knowledge of the Jesuit artist have influenced later artistic realities. However, it is undeniable that an early concept of the current meaning of globalization is found in his artistic production. G. Castiglione developed his own intellectual transformation in China as missionary, painter and architect. Castiglione also played a dual role as courtier and missionary, performing an artistic hybridization between East and West with two fundamental objectives. The first was to satisfy the wishes of the reigning emperor. The second, achieving an appropriate environment for the exercise of missionary activity. Both converge on what we call the “first pictorial-architectural globalization”.

Keywords : G. Castiglione; mundialización; perspectiva lineal; pintura; arquitectura.