Artist

Wu Li

Portrait of Wu Li
Portrait of Wu Li

Qing dynasty, 1632–1718

Wu Li was a Qing dynasty Baroque artist. 6 works are cataloged here, principally at Metropolitan Museum of Art, most of them ink works. Wu Li was born in Changshu.

Wu Li, SJ (simplified Chinese: 吴历; traditional Chinese: 吳歷; pinyin: Wú Lì); ca. 1632-1718 was a Chinese landscape painter, Christian poet, calligrapher and Jesuit missionary priest from Jiangsu who lived during the Qing Dynasty (1644–1912). Wu converted to the Catholic Church in China, and, after being widowed, joined the Society of Jesus. In 1688, after seven years of education at St. Paul's College, Macau, Wu was ordained at Nanjing as one of the three first Chinese Jesuit priests, taking the name Simon-Xavier a Cunha. He spent the remaining 30 years of his life serving tirelessly as priest in rural villages.

Works by Wu Li

Collections represented

Catalog records compiled from museum open-access collections; the artworks shown are in the public domain. Spotted an error in this record? Tell us.