Today, in our section dedicated to pets in art, we would like to pay special tribute to Giuseppe Castiglione, an Italian Jesuit missionary and painter, creator of the impressive series “Ten Fine Hounds”. It is a series we love, most of which can be seen at the National Palace Museum in Taiwan, and it reminds us of the role ARISTODOGS have played in our lives for centuries.
For those unfamiliar with him, Giuseppe Castiglione was born in Milan in 1688. He learned to paint at a very young age, at the renowned Botteghe degli Stampatori studio, influenced by Andrea Pozzo, a well-known Jesuit muralist.
At 19, Castiglione joined the order, and eight years later he boarded a sailing ship that would take him from Italy to China, on a journey that changed his life.
He arrived in Beijing in 1715, at a time of peak Jesuit influence, when members of the order were among the most valuable and trusted advisers to the Chinese emperor. They held prestigious positions in the imperial government and worked as mechanics, musicians, painters, instrument makers…
When the Yongzheng emperor ascended the throne in 1723, fortune smiled on Castiglione. He received his first imperial commission: a work that would later be titled “One Hundred Horses”. He devoted five years to the work, which earned him the honor of being appointed principal painter to the emperor’s court.
Castiglione immersed himself fully in Chinese culture. He adopted the name Lang Shi’ning and adapted his European painting style to Chinese subjects. In fact, he created a new hybrid approach that combined Western realism with traditional Chinese compositional conventions.
For all these reasons, Castiglione was held in high esteem. He was allowed to paint animals, displaying his artistic skills in all their glory. Then, in 1747, the great commission arrived. The emperor commissioned him to “portray” 10 “noble” dogs, that is, purebred dogs belonging to royal families. Each of these portraits bears an inscription in Chinese, Manchu, and Mongolian with the dog’s name and its owner’s name, as a tribute. The series, titled “Ten Fine Hounds,” is one of the finest series featuring dogs ever painted in the history of art.
The choice of these ten dogs is related to their cultural importance as hunting dogs. During the Han period (206 BC to 220 AD), an inspector supervised the breeding and training of hunting dogs for the court. This passion went so far that Han tomb tiles are decorated with images of large, collared dogs, their bodies slightly crouched, necks extended, and one front paw bent downward but raised several centimeters above the ground. They also feature Pekingese, the faithful companions of the Chinese royal family for centuries.
If you would like to see more legendary works of art featuring ARISTOPETS, you can continue reading here. We hope you enjoy them!
