The real Empress Dowager Cixi at Harvard? Is the portrait of Cixi in the Summer Palace fake ?

As the saying goes, everyone has a love for beauty, even the Queen Mother Lafayette is no exception。The most famous Empress Dowager is probably Cixi, and during the reign of the Empress Dowager Cixi, Western painters once painted oil paintings for him. The original painting of that painter is now preserved in the Summer Palace, and the portrait of Cixi that we are now widely circulating is the one he painted back then.

But some friends said that the portrait of Cixi in the Summer Palace was actually fake, and the real portrait of the Empress Dowager Cixi was at Harvard UniversityWhat's going on here? In fact, the matter is very simple, when the painter asked Cixi Lafayette to paint a portrait, he painted it according to Cixi's true face, and Cixi was already an old lady at that time, and the painting would definitely not be so good-looking.

Therefore, Cixi constantly asked the painter to modify his appearance and paint him younger and better, just like we always like to whiten and rub our skin when we take pictures with our mobile phones. It can be seen that even if he is the Queen Mother Lafayette, he is also a woman, and he still cares about his appearance, and he hopes that he will look better and be younger at any time.

This is also why the portrait of Cixi in the Summer Palace is said by many people to be fake, but in fact he is not fake, but a retouched portrait of the younger Cixi. Later, the painter returned to the United States and painted a new one, really, now at Harvard University, and the painting at Harvard University accurately restored the face of the Empress Dowager Cixi, that is, the elderly Cixi, which looks more shrewd.

No matter what era it is, human beings' pursuit of beauty is endless, especially women, compared with men, women's requirements for their own appearance are undoubtedly more stringent.

I think it is possible that the portrait of Cixi in the Summer Palace is fake, because the real portrait of Cixi may have been taken away by foreigners.

This painting of the Summer Palace is not fake, but because the painter at that time, under the guidance of Cixi, turned the seventy-year-old Cixi into a thirty-year-old, and became younger.

This is not the other, and the painting at Harvard University is a work that was denied by the Empress Dowager Cixi.

I don't think the portrait of Cixi hanging in the Summer Palace is necessarily fake.

In fact, the portraits of Cixi in Harvard University and the Summer Palace are real, but the portraits in Harvard University were denied by the Empress Dowager Cixi herself.

It can't be said to be fake, it's just that it's not particularly good-looking, and the final product is just abroad.

I don't think it's fake, but maybe it was more beautiful when I painted it.

I think that in Harvard University, the portrait of the Empress Dowager Cixi is fake, because the Empress Dowager Cixi did not admit that she had a portrait left elsewhere.

In the Dehe Garden, you can see an oil painting inlaid in a floor-to-ceiling frame, which is a portrait of the Empress Dowager Cixi by the best Dutch portrait painter Wales Huber

Yes, in the later years of the Empress Dowager Cixi, she often lived in the Summer Palace, about most of the year in the Summer Palace, because the climate of the Summer Palace is very livable compared to the Forbidden City.

It's true, yes, because she thinks that the Summer Palace is beautiful, and there are countless treasures, and if she stays here for a long time, she may prolong her life and her appearance will change.

No, it's just a corner of a palace garden; The Empress Dowager Cixi didn't like to live here, but she really didn't have a place to play around.

This is said to be a reconstructed photo of her youth. When you are young, it should be okay, but amazing is definitely not counted. Cixi is mainly a powerful means.

In the twenty-eighth year of Guangxu (1902), Tsarist Nicholas II presented an eight-inch colored family photo to the Empress Dowager Cixi. When the Empress Dowager Cixi saw such a new portrait, she was eager to try it and wanted to experience it for herself. You must know that at that time, photography still used glass plates, the imaging process was particularly complicated, and all the materials needed to be imported, and the cost was very expensive.

Now everyone sees the Empress Dowager Cixi's **, most of them were taken for her by the royal photographer Yu Xunling on Cixi's 70th birthday. ** The Empress Dowager Cixi is well-dressed and not angry and arrogant. In addition to photographs, there are also portraits of the Empress Dowager Cixi.

In 1903, the American painter Catherine Carr painted a portrait of the Empress Dowager Cixi, and she described in her memoirs that she saw the Empress Dowager Cixi's true face.

As the de facto ruler of the late Qing Dynasty, the Empress Dowager Cixi was not short of money. So, Yu Xunling was summoned to the palace. In order to make the imaging effect better, the Empress Dowager Cixi ordered people to build a studio in front of the Le Shou Hall of the Summer Palace, and arranged luxurious furnishings in it according to the style of the palace.

If Yu Xunling took a photo of the Empress Dowager Cixi, it was relatively smooth, then the Empress Dowager Cixi's requirements for portraits should be described in a harsh word.

After Karl entered the palace, he was warmly received by the Empress Dowager Cixi. After a period of observation, Karl discovered that the Empress Dowager Cixi possessed absolute authority, "her majestic countenance has enough magic power to make people intimidating", and "can make hundreds of officials, big and small, prostrate themselves under the throne." ”

Before the official portrait, the Empress Dowager Cixi asked Karl for the portrait, the most important of which was that "I hope that the details are as detailed as possible, but there should be no shadows." Karl was so embarrassed by this incident that she wrote in her memoirs, "[Empress Dowager Cixi] was very appreciative and open-minded, and in the end she always gave me more freedom; But she also had to abide by tradition, and when painting portraits of Chinese emperors and queens, traditions and conventions had to be followed to the letter, ......I had a lot of headaches, I was fighting fiercely, and it took a lot of effort to settle down and do what I had to do. ”

According to the data, Karl painted a total of four portraits of the Empress Dowager Cixi, but we can only see one of them so far. In this portrait, the Empress Dowager Cixi is dressed in a narcissus-patterned civilian dress, a pearl costume shawl, auspicious clouds and coral accessories on her chest, and a pearl bracelet and jade ring on her hands.

In addition to Karl's portrait of the Empress, the American-Dutch painter Huber also painted it. In a letter to a friend, Hu Bo also complained about the problems he encountered when painting the portrait of the Empress Dowager Cixi, "The Empress Dowager demanded strictness, in short, no shadows, no shadows, and no wrinkles."

At that time, the Empress Dowager Cixi's request was very strange, he asked the painter not to paint her too ugly, to paint beautifully, and there should be no shadows on the portrait, and there should be no wrinkles.

Galeries Lafayette asked to remove the shadows from the eyes and nose, the eyes should be enlarged, the corners of the mouth should be upward, and the eyebrows should be straight. Because everyone has a love of beauty, Lafayette asked him to change to these. Otherwise, even children will be frightened if these true words flow out, so Lafayette asks her to beautify.

When the painter painted the portrait of the Empress Dowager Cixi, the Empress Dowager Cixi proposed to paint herself very beautifully, and then refine it, because the painting was to be passed on to future generations, so the requirements were relatively high, which was very difficult for the painter.

Now you can see a lot of Empress Dowager Cixi's **, many of which are specially shot for him by Cixi's special photographer. Cixi's special photographer is Yu Xunling in the United States, and each of Cixi's ** photos were taken after she dressed up for a long time. But in comparison, Karl was not so lucky, Cixi proposed to Karl to make the details of his paintings very detailed, and there should be no shadows, which made Yu Xunling very embarrassed.

After Cixi saw Nicholas II's family photos, she liked it very much, and hoped that she could have such a **, but at that time, Chinese photography still used glass negatives, many technologies were relatively backward, and the production cost was very expensive. Of course, as a person with real power, Cixi naturally couldn't be short of money, so she summoned Yu Xunling into the palace, and asked people to build a studio for herself in the Summer Palace, which was arranged in accordance with the style of the palace, which was very luxurious. Yu Xunling gave the Empress Dowager Cixi a picture of **, but after that, Carl entered the palace but was not as good as Yu Xunling.

After Carl entered the palace, Cixi entertained him very warmly. Karl soon discovered that the Empress Dowager Cixi had great power and was the owner of all power. When Cixi was about to ask Karl to paint a portrait of herself, Cixi said that she hoped that her portrait must have a very good grasp of all details, the more detailed the better, but there must be no shadows.

This made Carl very uncomfortable, after all, the portrait could not be painted according to his own aesthetics, which must be very uncomfortable for a painter.

Not only Karl, but also the American painter Hubo, who later came to paint the portrait of Cixi, also complained to his friends. He said that the Queen Mother's requirements are very strict, that is, no shadows, no shadows, no wrinkles.

Painting himself young and beautiful and painting as realistic as a real person, so that the American painter is very for.

It is probably to make American painters paint beautifully, youthful and beautiful, and old-fashioned Cixi, which is really difficult for American painters.

Let the painter paint her younger.

For this issue. At that time, the Empress Dowager Cixi. Let the painter. Draw the young point. This made the painter very difficult.

I think Hu Ge and Huo Jianhua are also very handsome with long hair, and male stars are generally very good-looking, so they can control many hairstyles. Personally, I think the long-haired boy is still a bit girly, and I prefer Zhang Yishan's flat head, which is too manly.

This is a typical steamed bun with foreign meat. A semi-literate person who has lived in the deep palace for a long time, surrounded by a group of eunuchs, what insight can he have? In the eyes of Americans, she is like a bejeweled old foreign model.

Cixi wanted Americans to understand the de facto ruler of the Qing Dynasty, and she loved vanity and proclaimed the power of the state to foreign countries. In addition, she thinks that her portrait is beautiful and wants to be praised by foreigners.

The Empress Dowager Cixi was a very confident person, at that time other countries did not know about Chinese culture, in order to promote Chinese culture and spread Chinese culture, the Empress Dowager Cixi sent her portrait to the exhibition.

There are many theories about this matter, some say that Cixi thinks she is very beautiful, so she wants to do this, and I personally think that Cixi is vain and wants to put this matter abroad, so that foreign countries know that she is the ruler of the Qing Dynasty. I want to be praised by others.

There are two reasons, one is that the Empress Dowager Cixi is very narcissistic. I want to teach well with foreigners.

In 1904, the United States would hold a competition in St. Louis, and it was suggested that she send a portrait to the exhibition, so that the world could see the true face of the Empress Dowager Cixi, so that more countries could understand the Qing Dynasty and reshape the image of the Qing Dynasty.

Cixi loved vanity and wanted to proclaim her strength to foreign countries. However, her paintings are really good, and the response is very great, and she is recognized by foreigners.

Although the Empress Dowager Cixi is old, women love beauty, and she is even more.

Summer Palace Le Shou Tang.

Le Shou Tang was originally a two-story building, and it was burned down by the British and French forces in the tenth year of Xianfeng (1860). When it was rebuilt in the thirteenth year of Guangxu (1887), it was changed to the current style and became the sleeping palace of the Empress Dowager Cixi in the Summer Palace. Le Shou Tang is displayed according to the original state of the palace, with the living room in the middle, the west suite for the dormitory, and the east suite for the dressing room.

In the living room, the "Imperial Throne" carved from the precious wood rosewood is set in the middle of the room, and there is a 15-fold glass screen behind it, which illuminates the interior extraordinarily spaciously. On both sides of it, there are peacock feather palm fans. This pair of feather palm fans is not only quite exquisite, but also can embellish the majesty of the Empress Dowager Cixi of the West.

Summer Palace, Ci is the place where the Empress Dowager Xi lived, in the tenth to twenty-first years of Guangxu for the Empress Dowager Cixi to retire and recuperate, Qianlong fifteen years (1750), the Qianlong Emperor used 4.48 million taels to honor his mother, the Holy Empress of Filial Piety, and rebuilt it into Qingyi Garden here. In the tenth year of Xianfeng (1860), Qingyi Garden was burned down by the British and French forces. In the 14th year of Guangxu (1888), it was rebuilt and renamed the Summer Palace.

In the twenty-sixth year of Guangxu (1900), the Summer Palace was looted by the "Eight-Nation Alliance". During the warlord melee and the Kuomintang rule, it was devastated again.

On March 4, 1961, the Summer Palace was announced as the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units, and in November 1998, it was included in the World Heritage List. In 2009, the Summer Palace was selected as the largest surviving royal garden in China by the China World Records Association.

The Summer Palace, a royal garden during the Qing Dynasty in China, formerly known as Qingyi Garden, is located in the western suburbs of Beijing, 15 kilometers away from the city, covering an area of about 290 hectares, adjacent to the Old Summer Palace. It is a large-scale landscape garden based on Kunming Lake and Wanshou Mountain, based on Hangzhou West Lake, and drawing on the design techniques of Jiangnan gardens.

The place where the Empress Dowager Cixi lived in the Summer Palace was Le Shou Tang.

There is also Le Shou Tang in the palace, which Qianlong lived in his later years, and Cixi also went to live, which are two different places from the Le Shou Tang in the Summer Palace.

Empress Dowager Cixi was of Han Chinese. The Qing court explicitly forbade intermarriage between Manchu and Han, and if there were violators, they would be beheaded all over the house.

However, many past events have also arisen with the continuation of history, and unexpected problems have arisen. In the early 90s of the last century, three elderly people in their seventies in Changzhi County, Shanxi Province proposed: Cixi is a native of Shangqin Village, Changzhi County, Shanxi Province, born on October 10, 1833, named Song Ling'e.

His father's name is Song Ruizhong, and he is an authentic Han Chinese.

The three old men who raised doubts about the clan of the Empress Dowager Cixi were: Song Liuzhi, Song Shuanghua, and Zhao Fawang. As Cixi's fifth nephew and nephew, they jointly sent a letter to the Changzhi Local Chronicle Office, revealing Cixi's life history to the world for the first time.