"The Italian Giuseppe Castiglione (1688-1766) was a Jesuit lay brother who was never ordained a priest. Arriving in Beijing in 1715, he was first set to work as an artisan in the palace enamelling workshop, and went on to serve three emperors, Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong, as a court painter, blending European technique with Chinese subjects. Under Yongzheng, when Christianity was suppressed and missionaries not working for the emperor were expelled, he remained painting at court; later he was in charge of designing the Western-style palaces of the Old Summer Palace. He died in Beijing in 1766; the Qianlong Emperor personally wrote his obituary, and he was buried in the Zhalan Cemetery."