Chinanews client, Beijing, July 29th (Reporter Song Yusheng) Recently, a "color photo of Empress Dowager Cixi when she was young" circulated on the Internet, sparking a discussion about how beautiful Empress Dowager Cixi was when she was young. Link this photo with the Palace Museum. However, is this photo really a young empress?
"Color photo of Empress Dowager Cixi when she was young" is posted online. Picture source: a screenshot of the drawing process video released by the original author of the picture
The Forbidden City denies: impossible, not true, not in the Forbidden City
In response, the official website of the Palace Museum recently published a special textual research article.
The article made it clear that the recent "color photo of Empress Dowager Cixi" could be "identified as a fake photo."
The article pointed out that the "photo" was not in the collection of the Palace Museum; the intersection of modern photography history and the figures of the Qing palace with photography shows that it was impossible for Empress Dowager Cixi to leave a color photo in the 1880s; the "color photo of Empress Dowager Cixi" was in the Palace Museum. Processed and colored on the basis of the "Photos of Guangxu Kuimao Year" in the Museum's collection.
In fact, according to common sense, this "color photo of Empress Dowager Cixi when she was young" has many loopholes.
According to Wang Zhiwei, the Palace History Editor of the Palace Press, the first single building photo in the history of the Forbidden City was taken at the Meridian Gate, which was after the second Opium War in 1860. But the photographer was not allowed to enter the Forbidden City and only took this photo from outside. The photographer walked into the Qing Palace with great fanfare in the 29th year of Guangxu (1903 AD).
The first single building photo in the history of the Forbidden City-Meridian Gate. China News Service reporter Song Yusheng
Empress Dowager Cixi is 68 years old at this time, far from being "young."
In addition, in the history of photography, although the first full-color image appeared in the 1860s, it was not until 1910-1914 that German Fisher studied subtractive color film and obtained a German national patent. With color photography, he began to find the right way to develop himself.
Empress Dowager Cixi died in 1908.
A screenshot of "The Shadow of Youth Has Never Been Left, Just Because Time Is So rushed-A recent report on "Color Photo of Empress Dowager Cixi" and Others" published by the Palace Museum.
"That'photo' was drawn by me"
"The color photo of Empress Dowager Cixi when she was young" is certainly not true, but where did it come from?
A reporter from Chinanews.com contacted the original author of this "photo" Ju Xudong. He admitted to reporters that he "created" this "photo".
"This is a work I painted at the end of 2018." Ju Xudong said, "Because I paint in realism, I later came across old photos of Cixi by chance. Based on my understanding of the facial structure of this character, I added I painted this picture on my own art foundation."
After about a month of drawing, in January 2019, Ju Xudong posted this work and a video of his drawing process on the Internet.
A screenshot of the drawing process video posted by the original author of the picture.
But what he didn't expect was that there were more and more "rumors" related to this work, and many different versions of theories appeared. "There are rumours that experts used AI and other technological means to repair, some rumours are old photos of Cixi discovered by experts in the Forbidden City, and some even say that they are cosmetic surgery or something."
Many circulated versions also made the original author of this painting Ju Xudong dumbfounded. He said that he also tried to communicate with these online self-media and marketing accounts, but they "ignored it."
Ju Xudong also hopes to express his apologies to the public because of such a big misunderstanding caused by his own work. "Although it was not my intention, it did cause trouble to the experts." He also admitted that he had carefully studied some historical materials when he created this painting, but due to his limited understanding of history, the details inevitably differ, so this picture The work cannot be regarded as a "repair".
Data map: On July 21st, tourists took pictures at the Palace Museum in Beijing. Photo by China News Agency reporter Du Yang
The history of portraits in the Qing palace
In fact, the Palace Museum has a large collection of Qing palace photos today.
1839 was the year when the art of photography was recognized. Only 5 years later, photography introduced from the West was first used in the diplomatic field in China.
The earliest documented photo of a figure in the Qing Dynasty was taken on October 24, 1844. This was shot by Qiying, the then governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, when he signed the unequal Whampoa Treaty on behalf of the Qing government and the French government.
In 1860, the first single building photo in the history of the Forbidden City was taken outside the Meridian Gate. At the same time, a few Qing dynasty princes who had dealt with foreigners also left their own photos.
But these photographs are all outside the Forbidden City after all.
In 1886, some photos of Prince Chi traveling through the Northern Ocean were "introduced" to Empress Dowager Cixi. It can be seen that the photo at this time has entered the Qing Palace.
A large number of photos of Empress Dowager Cixi appeared today in 1903.
Data map: The audience pays attention to the Empress Dowager Cixi in the exhibition. Photo by China News Agency reporter Liao Pan
This year, when Yugeng Yugeng, the minister of the Qing government in France, returned to China, the 68-year-old Empress Dowager Cixi let Yugeng's daughter De Ling and Rongling attend her, and ordered her son Xunling to take pictures of herself.
According to incomplete statistics on the official website of the Palace Museum, Xunling took at least 15 scenes and no less than 62 photos for Cixi, and developed more than 700 photos in a row. Among them are the original photos that were recently reported as "the color photo of Empress Dowager Cixi when she was young".
These originally clear histories should not be obscured by untrue Internet rumors. (Finish)
Reference materials: "The young beautiful shadow has never been left, just because the years are too rushed-the recent biography of "the color photo of Empress Dowager Cixi" and others", "Photographic History of Cixi", "History of Chinese Photography 1840-1937", "History of World Photography", "China" "The Development of Photography", "The Way that Photography Introduced to China in the Late Qing Dynasty", "The Progenitor of Modern Photography-Before and After the Birth of Daguerre Photography"