Why is the contrast between Zeng Guofan's photos and portraits so great?

Everyone is familiar with Zeng Guofan.

In fact, most of his images come from portraits, with triangular eyes and a full beard as typical features. Zeng Guofan at this time is the image of an old man.

Zeng Guofan's official clothes

The portrait of Zeng Guofan's old man is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. The values of "self-cultivation, keeping the family in order, governing the country and leveling the world" have made Zeng Guofan's reputation spread to this day. Looking at his portrait again, I feel that he is a wise old man with vision and strategy.

As an outstanding politician, strategist and thinker in the late Qing Dynasty, Zeng Guofan founded and led the Xiang Army, and successfully wiped out the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom through arduous struggle with the Taiping Army. Zeng Guofan, who has experienced numerous ups and downs, is very humiliated in the portrait. In his eyes and manners, he showed calmness.

If you don't feel obvious, then please compare Li Hongzhang with a sad expression. Li Hongzhang spent the rest of his life dealing with foreign powers, negotiating, paying reparations, ceding land and signing unequal agreements. Look at the real photos of Li Hongzhang, which are basically bitter expressions. A bitter face spread all over the world, which is a typical image of Li Hongzhang in his later years. Although Li Hongzhang was also a minister of the court's humerus, he also experienced all kinds of difficulties and obstacles, but he faced all kinds of humiliation. Face betrayed Li Hongzhang's heart.

Looking back, Zeng Guofan is completely different. Zeng Guofan represents the just power of the imperial court and is always full of positive energy. It is a great cause to establish the Xiang army and lead it to suppress the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Zeng Guofan successfully destroyed the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and relieved a major threat from the imperial court. For the country and the nation, it has avoided the long-term destruction of the war, not only won peace and development for the country, but also won time for the people to recuperate.

Eliminating national disaster, stabilizing China and achieving great achievements undoubtedly added a special temperament to Zeng Guofan. Be confident, calm and calm. Later, Zeng Guofan did not rebel, but took the initiative to lift the concerns of the court. This is a responsibility. Zeng Guofan did not have much desire for power, and his expression would naturally be calm.

But a portrait is a portrait, not very real. In today's era of advocating pictures and truth, let's take a look at his photos.

Real photos of Zeng Guofan

This photo is said to be the only real one in Zeng Guofan's life. Why did Li Hongzhang have many photos, but Zeng Guofan didn't? This is very simple, because Li Hongzhang is younger than Zeng Guofan and lives longer than Zeng Guofan. Zeng Guofan was born in 18 1 1 and died in 1872. Li Hongzhang was born in 1823 and died in 190 1. That is to say, before Zeng Guofan's death, photography technology was not popular in the Qing Palace, but in Li Hongzhang's later years, photography technology was quite common in China.

What did you feel when you first saw this photo of Zeng Guofan? Wow! Why so fierce? Triangular eyes and whiskers, this is clearly a robber face. Do you look like a robber? Do you look like a robber who kills and steals goods? In a word, this is a Shan Ye headstrong face. This is completely out of line with his brilliant and brilliant image.

That's true. But this photo is obviously young, which is obviously different from his portrait. Zeng Guofan lived only 6 1 year, and all the portraits we saw were images of his later years. If compared with his peers who are over 60 years old today, Zeng Guofan is undoubtedly much older. At that time, Zeng Guofan was more like a 70-year-old man.

Look at this photo, Zeng Guofan's age is about 50 years old, and it is more likely to be over 56 years old. About after 1867, because 1844, China began to have the first photo, which was brought by the French. It was not until 1867 that British photographers began to take pictures in major cities in China. Therefore, this photo of Zeng Guofan is most likely left over from this period.

Zeng Guofan is at least 56 years old at this time. By this time, he had completed the extermination of Taiping Army and Nian Army, and began to concentrate on hosting the Westernization Movement. At this time, it was only five years before his death. Supposedly, he should be an excellent court official at this time. Who knows, but it's a robber and a headstrong face, which is really surprising.

What is important is that the time of Zeng Guofan's photos and portraits basically coincides. In other words, the time of his portrait is probably in this period, and judging from the age at which he took the picture, he will definitely not be more than 5 years old. However, Zeng Guofan in the portrait is obviously different from Zeng Guofan in the real photo. Zeng Guofan in the portrait has been to seventy years of age, but Zeng Guofan in the photo has not yet reached the age of sixty.

Zeng Guofan in the imperial portrait has a thin face, while Zeng Guofan in the photo is more like a Chinese character face. The nose is also obviously different. The portrait shows a garlic nose, which is quite wide and has a big nose. But the nose in the photo is not so terrible, and even feels a little flat.

However, there is a casual portrait that is closer to the photo. It's the picture below, because it's so realistic, it always gives people the feeling of a photo.

Zeng Guofan's random portrait

Like the photos, they all wear almost the same hats. "The splayed nasolabial groove is more similar. The head line and ears are similar. The difference lies in eyebrows, beard and hair. The sideburns in the portrait have white hair, the beard is much whiter, and the eyebrows seem to be whiter. Careful observation reveals that the eyes are different. The eyes in the portrait are slightly open, while the eyes in the photo are wide and dazzling.

Comparing the two, I feel that Zeng Guofan in the photo is younger than Zeng Guofan in the portrait. In other words, the time for taking pictures comes first, and the time for portraits comes later.

Comparing the two, Zeng Guofan's greatest image feature is kindness, whether it is a portrait of court clothes or a portrait of casual clothes, especially the portrait of court clothes. But Zeng Guofan in the photo is completely fierce.

However, the fierce Zeng Guofan may be more in line with his image of "shaving his head". People gave him such a nickname because he killed too many people when he suppressed the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

There is a popular chicken soup now, saying that people after forty are responsible for their appearance. But Zeng Guofan, who was nearly sixty years old, became a big official in the court, but he was like a bandit. What is this?

Interestingly, Zeng Guofan is also famous for knowing people, especially in folklore, how Zeng Guofan sees faces. I don't know how Zeng Guofan looked at his face.

It is said that each other is born from the heart. Through Zeng Guofan's face, can you know what his heart is like?