Giuseppe Castiglione or Láng Shìníng (1688 – 1766) was an Italian Jesuit missionary and painter, that was incredibly prominent in the court of the Qianlong Emperor. There, he was absolutely instrumental to the development of Western styles in Qing Dynasty China (certainly the most prominent Western painter in Chinese history.) He befriended the Qianlong Emperor, and painted MANY things for him. The amalgam of Western and Eastern style (See: ART – Western Influence on Qing) that Castiglione introduced to the Qing court would remain prevalent even in the Modern Era. Prior to Castiglione, Western and Chinese art had been almost entirely different, and the two rarely met. Castiglione had to change his name to Láng Shìníng to gain any real success in the Qing courts.
Qing Dynasty China's Relations with the Western World 