When painting Empress Dowager Cixi, what special requirements did she put forward that embarrassed American painters?

In the 28th year of Guangxu (1902), Emperor Nicholas II presented an eight-inch painted family portrait to Empress Dowager Cixi. Empress Dowager Cixi saw this new portrait and was eager to try it and wanted to experience it for herself. You know, at that time, photography still used glass negatives, and the imaging process was particularly complicated, and all the materials needed to be imported, which was very expensive.

Now most of the photos of Empress Dowager Cixi were taken by Yu Xunling, a royal photographer, on her seventieth birthday. The empress dowager cixi in the photo is well dressed and not angry and arrogant. Besides photos, Empress Dowager Cixi also has portraits. 1903, American painter Catherine Carr painted the Empress Dowager Cixi. She described in her memoirs that she saw the true face of Empress Dowager Cixi.

Empress Dowager Cixi, as the actual ruler of the late Qing Dynasty, was not short of money. So, Yu Xunling was called into the palace. In order to make the imaging effect better, Empress Dowager Cixi ordered people to build a studio in front of Leshou Hall, the bedroom of the Summer Palace, and decorated it with luxurious furnishings according to the style of the palace. If Yu Xunling's photo of Empress Dowager Cixi went smoothly, then Empress Dowager Cixi's requirements for portraits should be described as harsh.

After Carl entered the palace, he was warmly received by Empress Dowager Cixi. After a period of observation, Carl found that Empress Dowager Cixi had absolute authority. "Her majesty is enough to shock people to the magic of impossible things." "It can make officials of all sizes kneel to the emperor."

Before the official portrait, Empress Dowager Cixi asked Carl for a portrait. The most important point is "I hope the details are as detailed as possible, but there can be no shadows." Jeancard was embarrassed about it. She wrote in her memoirs, "(Empress Dowager Cixi) is very appreciative and open-minded, and will always give me more freedom in the end; However, she also had to follow the tradition. When painting the portrait of Queen China, we must strictly follow the tradition and rules ... I have headaches again and again, and my inner resistance is fierce. I spent a lot of effort to settle down and do what I should do. "

According to the data, Karl painted four portraits of Empress Dowager Cixi, but at present we can only see one of them. In this portrait, Empress Dowager Cixi wears narcissus casual clothes, a pearl shawl, Xiangyun coral accessories, a pearl bracelet and an emerald ring on her chest.

Besides the Cixi painted by Karl, Hu Bo, an American Dutch painter, also painted this picture. In his letter to a friend, Hu Bo also complained about the problems he encountered when painting Empress Dowager Cixi. "Empress Dowager Cixi is strict. In short, no shadows, no shadows, no wrinkles.