Ignatius Sichelbart also Sickelbart, Sickelpart; Chinese 艾啟蒙 / 艾启蒙 Ài Qǐměng or Ai Ch'i-meng; (September 26, 1708

Nejdek Nejdek (; german: Neudek) is a town in Karlovy Vary District in the Karlovy Vary Region, Czech Republic. It has about 7,600 inhabitants. Administrative parts Villages of Bernov, Fojtov, Lesík, Lužec, Oldřichov, Pozorka, Suchá, Tisová and V ...

– October 6, 1780

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

), was a German-

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

and painter. After his

novitiate The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...

Brno Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...

and the study of theology in Olomouc, Sichelbart was assigned as the missionary to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

's Provincial Government in 1745. He was joined on the mission by two other painters Giuseppe Castiglione and

Jean Denis Attiret Jean Denis Attiret (, 31 July 1702 – 8 December 1768) was a French Jesuit painter and missionary to Qing China. Early life Attiret was born in Dole, France. He studied art in Rome and made himself a name as a portrait painter. While ...

. Together while in China, the artists combined their European techniques with traditional

Chinese painting Chinese painting () is one of the oldest continuous artistic traditions in the world. Painting in the traditional style is known today in Chinese as ''guó huà'' (), meaning "national painting" or "native painting", as opposed to Western style ...

to create new styles. After successful military campaigns known as the Ten Great Campaigns in

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

, the

Qianlong Emperor The Qianlong Emperor (25 September 17117 February 1799), also known by his temple name Emperor Gaozong of Qing, born Hongli, was the fifth Emperor of the Qing dynasty and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning from 1735 t ...

commissioned depictions of the battles. The work was carried out by the Jesuit artists, among them Sichelbart. The group produced 16 tableaux, which were engraved in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in 1774. As a reward for his service and work, he was promoted to director of the Imperial Painting Academy and court painter to the Emperor. Sichelbart died in Beijing in 1780. He was buried in the Jesuits' Zhalan Cemetery.

References

Constantin von Wurzbach Constantin Wurzbach Ritter von Tannenberg (11 April 1818 – 17 August 1893) was an Austrian biographer, lexicographer and author. Biography He was born in Laibach, Carniola (present-day Ljubljana, Slovenia).He later went on to complete a cou ...

: Biographical Dictionary of the Empire, Austria Volume 34. Publisher L. C. Zamarski, Vienna 1877, p 209 f * Rudolf Grulich: The contribution of the Czech lands for the 17th World Mission and 18th Century, 1981 * Some content translated from corresponding German Wikipedia article 1708 births 1780 deaths People from Nejdek People from the Kingdom of Bohemia German Bohemian people 18th-century German Jesuits German Roman Catholic missionaries Jesuit missionaries in China 18th-century German painters 18th-century German male artists German male painters {{Germany-painter-stub