With the Empress Dowager of China

by Katharine A. Carl

My desire to have more time for my painting and more opportunity for studying the work was not the only cloud in the heaven of these delightful days. As the portrait progressed I found myself constantly running up against Chinese conventionalities as to the way it was done. They wished so much detail and no shadow. Had Her Majesty been alone to be considered, she was artistic and progressive enough to have, in the end, allowed me more liberty; but she, also, was obliged to conform to tradition, and no fantasy could be indulged in painting the portrait of a Celestial Majesty. It was necessary to conform to rigid conventions.

I had such a fine opportunity to do something really picturesque in painting this great Empress and most interesting woman, and I found I was to be bound down by the iron fetters of Chinese tradition! I could neither choose an accessory, nor even arrange a fold according to the lines of the composition. I was obliged to follow, in every detail, centuries-old conventions. There could be no shadows and very little perspective, and everything must be painted in such full light as to lose all relief and picturesque effect. When I saw I must represent Her Majesty in such a conventional way as to make her unusually attractive personality banal, I was no longer filled with the ardent enthusiasm for my work with which I had begun it, and I had many a heartache and much inward rebellion before I settled down to the inevitable.

The Empress Dowager, however, knew nothing of my discouragement, and seemed perfectly contented with the progress of the portrait then on hand—so pleased, in fact, she asked me if I would not like Mrs. Conger to come and see it. I, of course, replied that I would, and an invitation was accordingly sent, through the Foreign Office, inviting Mrs. Conger to come to see the portrait.

As Her Majesty was to receive her in the Throne-room where I painted, it was decided I could not work on that day. I fully expected the portrait would be exhibited in the Throne-room, the only place where it had a proper light; but, to my disappointment, Mrs. Conger was asked to look at it in the small room where it was kept when I was not working on it. When we went in, the Chief Eunuch ceremoniously removed the yellow covering over the “Sacred Picture,” which hung flat against the wall in a very bad light, with annoying reflections. The small room was also uncomfortably crowded with Her Majesty and suite, so that it was impossible to see the whole canvas at once. Mrs. Conger was, however, so pleased with the likeness and lifelike expression in the eyes, the upper part of the picture being in a fairly good light, that the comment stopped here.

This first portrait represented the Empress Dowager sitting on one of her favorite Cantonese carved Thrones. The figure was life-size. In one hand she held a flower, and the other lay over a yellow cushion. The tip of one small embroidered shoe, with its jeweled, white kid sole resting on a dragon footstool, showed under the hem of her gown. The head was a three-quarters view, with the eyes looking at the observer. A jardinière, with her favorite orchid, stood behind the Throne at the right. It was painted in full light. The canvas was four by six feet in size; and there was thus no place for any of the emblems or insignia of Her Majesty’s rank, save that she was clothed in her official costume of Imperial yellow.

This was the conventional reality, and I had dreamed of painting Her Majesty in one of her Buddha-like poses, sitting erect upon an antique Throne of the Dynasty, with one beautifully rounded arm and exquisitely shaped hand resting on its high side, contrasting in their grace with its severe lines. I should have exaggerated her small stature by placing her upon the largest of these Dynastic Thrones. Her wonderfully magnetic personality alone should have dominated. At the left of the Throne, I should have placed one of those huge Palace braziers, its blue flames leaping into the air, their glow glinting here and there upon her jewels and the rich folds of her drapery; the whole enveloped in the soft azure smoke of incense, rising from splendid antique bronze censers. Across the base of the picture, under her feet, should have writhed and sprawled the rampant double dragon. The Eternal Feminine, with its eternal enigma shining from her inscrutable eyes, should have pierced, with almost cruel penetration, the mystery of her surroundings. Her face should have shone out of this dim interior, as her personality does above her real environment. I should have tried to show all the force and strength of her nature in that characteristic face, exaggerating every feature of it, rather than toning down one line.

With all these possibilities that the Empress Dowager’s person and surroundings would suggest to the most unimaginative of artists, and with the conventional traditions, which I was obliged to follow, no wonder I became discouraged. But I had always the solace of her personality—the fascinating study of herself to delight and console me. New phases of her character and personality were constantly opening out before me. She dominates everything and everybody in the Palace, and is far and away, the most interesting personality there, not because she is the first figure at the Court, but because she is really the most interesting one, and she would be that in any position. No wonder that when she smiles the Court is gay—her smile is so entrancing. No wonder that when she frowns the Court trembles, for she excites sympathy in all her moods.

CHAPTER XIX A GARDEN PARTY AT THE SUMMER PALACE

Not long after this, Her Majesty gave a garden party for the ladies and gentlemen of the Legations. These garden parties occupy two days, for ladies and gentlemen are not received at the same time by Their Majesties of China. The Corps Diplomatique and attachés were entertained the first day, and the ladies of the Legations the following day. The entertainment was the same for each. The gentlemen were formally received in the Great Audience Hall by Their Majesties, after which a repast was served them in a pavilion near. When this was finished, they were taken for a tour of the gardens and lakes, and they left the Palace about two o’clock. None of the Ladies of the Court, except, of course, the Empress Dowager, were present at the receptions of the gentlemen of the Corps Diplomatique. The ladies of the Legations were received the following day.

I was rather embarrassed as to what I should do, at this first formal reception, for the ladies of the Legations, since my arrival in the Palace. Being a foreigner, I thought it looked incongruous for me to receive with the Chinese Ladies. My uneasiness seemed to be divined by Her Majesty (she was always wonderful for her tact); she said, as I had been presented first in private Audience, it would be well for me to be presented also in public Audience. She suggested that I should go to the Foreign Office, meet Mrs. Conger on her arrival, and come into the Throne-room with her. When the eunuchs announced that the ladies had arrived at the Foreign Office, Her Majesty ordered my red Palace chair to take me there.