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The European palaces of the Emperor Qianlong, and their Italian sources.
Built between 1747 and 1768, several European-style buildings were added to the summer palace of the Yuangmingyuan, the ...favourite residence of the Chinese Emperor Qianlong. Today these European buildings and their gardens are in a seriously dilapidated state, but old engravings and photographs still depict them in their former glory. Two Jesuits played an essential role in their design, Father Benoist for all the water works and Brother Giuseppe Castiglione from Milan (1688-1766) for the buildings themselves. It is possible to identify certain European sources for these remarkable works. In the gardens, the space is not organised around a principal building but is rather a succession of architectural, plant or hydraulic events. Several elements have analogies with certain motifs in the villas of post-classical Rome. Other similarities may be found with villas of Lombardy or Piedmont, such as the Venaria Reale, built by Amedeo da Castellamonte. The waterfall of the Haiyantang incorporated water effects similar to those of the villas of the Latium, whilst the table fountains of the Dashuifa evoke the thicket of the triumphal arch at Versailles. The labyrinth, the bosco and the open-air theatre are all inspired by Italian models, transmitted, notably, by the engravings of Falda and Dal Re ; the decorative ponds are inspired by French examples. Throughout this exceptional composition, Castiglione has masterfully given the Emperor a sort of secret garden, full of surprises, where the zig-zagging design helped acclimatise European models which had been imported to China and rethought there.
