A missionary zeal for art

Editor's Note: Every week we look at a work of art or a cultural relic that puts the spotlight on China's heritage.

During the Qing Dynasty (1636-1911), many missionaries came to China, and some of them were masters of Western art, especially of portraits and landscapes.

One of them was the Italian Giuseppe Castiglione (1688-1766), a disciplined and hardworking artist, appointed to the Qing court when he was 27.