Lu Can

• Lu Can, sobriquet Xingsan, was a native of Changzhou, Wu County, Jiangsu, and served as a court painter of the Qing dynasty. He specialized in figure and flower painting, and was particularly renowned for his skill in lifelike portraiture. In the 44th year of the Qianlong reign (1779), he was summoned to the capital, where he painted portraits of civil and military meritorious officials as well as the imperial likeness of the Qianlong Emperor, twice receiving commissions to portray the emperor. In the following year, when the Sixth Panchen Lama traveled to Beijing to celebrate the Qianlong Emperor’s birthday, Lu Can was ordered to return to the capital to produce the initial portrait sketch. He later collaborated with Tibetan lamas to complete the thangka of the Sixth Panchen Lama, now preserved in the Palace Museum. In the 45th year of the Qianlong reign (1780), Lu Can was commissioned to paint auspicious-robed reading portraits of the Kangxi and Yongzheng Emperors, working together with court painters such as Yao Wenhan and Ilan Tai. These portraits were enshrined in the Suicheng Hall of the Mountain Resort at Chengde.