FortuneandGoodLuck–PaintingofBirdandBlossoms
ThisPaintingofBirdandBlossomswaspaintedbyLangShining(GiuseppeCastiglione),apainterservingintheroyalcourtinancientItaly.Thebrightcolorsofthepicturemakesapeacefulandharmoniousimpression,implyingfortuneandgoodluckforthepeople.Intheleftcornerofthepainting,itwrites“Inhonorofyourmajesty,drawnbyLangShining”whichindicatesthatthepaintingwasdrawnspeciallyfortheemperorbythecourtpainterLangShining.Intheancienttimes,thecourtpainterswerealwaysinstructedbytheemperortodrawpaintingsofcertainthemes.Takeforinstance,themostoftenpaintedarebirdsandflowers,ornaturalscenerytoexpressfortuneandgoodluckorhilariousfestivity.Theywereusuallyhunginthecourtasdecorationtopleasetheemperor.Someofthepaintingsofhighartisticvalueorthosemostfavoredbyemperorswouldbespeciallycollectedbythecourt.
FortuneandGoodLuck—PaintingofBirdandBlossomsbyLangShining
PresentlythepaintingiscollectedanddisplayedinthePalaceMuseuminBeijing.
此画无论从寓意上，还是艺术欣赏上都深受多位皇帝喜爱，上面钤有乾隆、嘉庆两位皇帝的御览之宝，还有三希堂、石渠宝笈等的收藏印章，足见其在宫廷绘画中的地位。宫廷画师经常受皇帝之意，画一些命题画，多是表现富贵吉祥、喜庆内容的山水、花鸟走兽，用于在宫廷中张挂，装饰宫殿和供皇帝玩赏，一些艺术性高、或受皇帝特别喜爱的画也被作为宫中收藏。经仿真复制，限量发行1000幅。此画出自郎世宁独自之笔，画面虽然还保持着传统中国绘画的基本格局，但是在画法上依然处处可见欧洲绘画的特点，如：两只雀鸟注重于羽毛质感的表达；眼睛中用白粉点出“高光”（即反光）；树木的树干斑驳，表现出明暗的区别；画幅上部的花朵，花瓣具有一定的厚度，质感也很强。画面的左下角有画家属款：“臣郎世宁恭画”六字，表明这幅作品是郎世宁在宫廷中专门为皇帝而画的。目前此画珍藏于北京故宫博物院
《吉祥富贵花鸟图》郎世宁绘
FromthispaintingbyLangShining,onecaneasilytracethecharacteristicsofEuropean styleofpainting,whileitremainsthetraditionalformatofChinesepainting.Thetwobirdswassoviv idinthepicture,withthefullnessoftheirfeather,andtheseemingly“twinkles”intheireyes,expressedwithwhitepowder;theshadesofthebranchesreflectsthespeckledtrunk;theflowersonthetopofthepaintingwasbestowedsuchrealitythatitradiatesfreshnessandquality.Thepaintingisfavoredbymanyemperorsforbothitsmeaningandartisticvalue.OnecanfindthesealsofQianLongandJiaQing(twomostfamousemperorsinQingDynasty)indicatingtheyhavekeptitasprivateowning;alsothesealofcollectionbySanXiTang,ShiQuBaoJietc.Allshowstheimportanceattachedtothispaintinginthecourt.
绢本设色画，原画纵67.3厘米，横32.3厘米，北京故宫博物院藏
这幅由意大利宫廷画师郎世宁所画的《吉祥富贵花鸟图轴》，画面构图宁静和谐，色彩艳丽饱满，寓意吉祥富贵，国泰民安