英國畫匠筆下的中國

An Englishman who had never been to China created lifelike illustrations of streets and lanes of teh 18th Century China for Westerners who were able to perceive this ancient empire from a brand new perspective.

Thomas Allom was a founding member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in the mid-19th century, who designed the Houses of Parliament, St. Peter's Church and Kensington Park among others. He studied design and painting at the Royal College of Art, before becoming famous for his watercolor paintings. His copperplate engravings were created with superb techniques and exquisite calligraphy, now favorite items of collectors.

Prior to the emergence of photography, copperplate style functioned as media for both fact recording and artistic appreciation by wayof delicate carvings. In 1793, after the fi rst visit to China for a British delegation led by Macartney, Allom made over 120 engravings to illustrate the Chinese way of life, on the basis of the sketches by William Alexander, an artist with the delegation.

These were the fi rst and most well-known artistic version of textbooks on Chinese history. His works adopted a style between western realism and Chinese freehand, outlining oriental courtyards, pagodas, streets, people–all presenting a somewhat prosperous perspective. However, the faces of the people in his work resemble westerners due to the fact that Allom had to use his imagination in the absence of any fi rsthand material.

At present, these images have become valuable historic items for understanding the features of Chinese culture and society in the 18th and 19th century, through which we may appreciate the glorious history of exchanges between China and the West.

一個從未到過中國的英國人，將18世紀(jì)中國的街頭巷尾栩栩如生地呈現(xiàn)在西方人面前，使當(dāng)時的西方人對這一東方帝國有了全新的感性認(rèn)識。

托馬斯·阿羅姆是19世紀(jì)中葉英國皇家建筑師協(xié)會的創(chuàng)建人，曾設(shè)計英國議會大廈、圣彼得教堂、肯星頓公園等。他也曾在英國皇家藝術(shù)學(xué)院學(xué)習(xí)設(shè)計和繪畫，并以水彩畫稱譽世界。他的銅版畫刻印技術(shù)一流，筆法細(xì)膩，如今已成為收藏家的心頭好。

在攝影技術(shù)出現(xiàn)以前，銅版畫以其精細(xì)的圖像刻繪，承載了新聞紀(jì)實與藝術(shù)鑒賞雙重作用。1793年，馬戛爾尼率領(lǐng)的英國使團(tuán)首次訪問中國后，阿羅姆借用了隨團(tuán)畫師威廉·亞歷山大的畫稿，重新刻繪了120余幅著名的中國世態(tài)風(fēng)情版畫，成為西方最早，也是最著名的關(guān)于中國歷史的圖畫本教科書。阿羅姆這些版畫的風(fēng)格介于西洋畫寫實和中國畫寫意之間，勾勒出了極具東方風(fēng)格的庭院、寶塔、街道、人物……一個頗有幾分富裕、安逸的中國躍然紙上。當(dāng)然，也許由于沒有一手資料，阿羅姆不得不發(fā)揮自己的想象，筆下人物的臉型輪廓倒是跟歐洲人略為接近。

如今，這些百年前的圖像刻繪，成為我們了解十八九世紀(jì)中國人文風(fēng)貌的珍貴史料，也幫助我們從中感悟近代海上絲綢之路中西交流的輝煌歷史。

Canton1840 is an initiator of mobile museums. Mr. Wen Shi, owner of the Canton1840 mobile museum, has been collecting forty thousand items representing Lingnan region culture and European culture in over forty years.

(WeChat∶ canton1840)

文仕文化博物檔案館是“近代海絲文化流動博物館”概念的創(chuàng)導(dǎo)者。館長文仕先生歷經(jīng)40多年對珠江嶺南地域文化及歐洲百年文化的搜集，收藏了近40000件博物館級珍貴史料文物。（官微“canton1840”）

Original works of Thomas Allom will be exhibited in May at Art·Rouncl café on Floor2 of Guangdong Provincial Museum.

Thomas Allom原作將于5月在廣東省博物館二樓藝外咖啡館展出。

CHINA IN THE WORKS OF A BRITISH ARTIST

Text by Irene Translation by Leo Photos Provided by Canton1840
圖片由文仕文化博物檔案館提供