焦秉贞是天主教传教士汤若望的门徒，通天文，擅长画肖像。康熙时官钦天监五官正，画“御容”。明末清初，西洋教士布道中国，每以宗教画为宣传工具，清朝画院供奉众多西洋教士，而钦天监中主其事者众，故焦氏日相濡染，遂习其法，亦一时之风尚使然。焦秉贞所画花卉精妙绝伦，其山水、人物、楼观之位置，自近而远，自大而小，不爽毫发，系采西洋画法。尝奉诏绘《耕织图》四十六幅，村落风景，田家耕作，曲尽其致。称旨，旋镂版印赐臣工。康熙二十八年（1689）尝写池上篇画意，雍正四年（1726）曾为张照写像，蒋廷锡补景。
焦秉贞作为一个宫廷画家同时又是一个科学官吏，在钦天监供职，对算理和科学的了解自然要比其他担任文官的宫廷画家要多一些，对于建立在数学、物理研究基础之上的西方绘画也较容易了解和接受。这仅仅是一个客观的因素，当时康熙皇帝对于参用西法的绘画的喜爱和赞赏是焦秉贞学习西法的主观因素和重要动力。流传至今较多的他的绘画中多带有“臣”字款，这些作品从整体上看多用色浓重艳丽，布局紧凑，细致工整，“参用西法”的特征主要表现在人物大小的安排，透视和明暗的运用及空间处理上，人物大多按近大远小的原则来安排，不同于传统中国画按人物身份高低安排人物大小的习惯，在空间处理上，也把人物放在一个真实的空间中，以人物为中心营造空间，建筑大小也考虑到人的尺度，甚至不惜牺牲建筑空间的完整性。
焦秉贞的绘画始终有一种中国化了的真实，似乎总无法摆脱绘画中“写意”思想，在他私人的习作《归去来兮图》中我们更是看到了中国传统文人画家的情怀，除了茅屋结构有上有些许透视外，无论从题材选取还是画面中大片留白手法的运用，都表达了文人惯有的山林隐逸的思想，意境深远，给人以无限遐想。
明代有一位画家名叫曾鲸（1568—1650，字波臣，福建莆田人，流寓金陵），一改我国传统人物肖像的画法，不用粉彩进行渲染，而是采用淡墨渲染出阴影、凹凸，甚至每画一张像，烘染达数十层，直到满意为止。当时，追随他用这种方法画肖像的人很多，被称为“波臣派”。焦秉贞是继曾鲸之后、开创“西学派”的著名画家，和禹之鼎的“白描派”并称肖像画三大派。

焦秉贞一生所作不多，画作有《耕织图》46幅，每幅上方康熙帝均有题句，镂版印赐诸臣；《列朝贤后故事》册（12页），辑入《国朝院画录》；《池上篇画意图》轴，辑入《石渠宝笈》。传世作品有：《张照肖像》轴，蒋廷锡补景，现藏故宫博物院；《秋千闲戏图》册页，辑放《中国绘画史图录》下册。

iao Bingzhen, the Qing court painter. Years of birth and death is unknown, the word is Seoul, Shandong Jining, Kangxi Guanqin day prison officials face, dedicated to the inner court. Good at drawing figures, absorbing Western painting, heavy and dark, the tower sector painting, carved Seiko, painted with "ladies", "farming plan" and so on.
Artistic achievement
Jiao Bingzhen is a disciple of the Catholic missionary, John Doe, through astronomy, good at portraits. Kangxi official Guan Qin days monitoring facial features, painting "Royal capacity." During the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, Western priest sermons in China, each religious painting as a propaganda tool, the Qing Dynasty art academy dedicated to many Western priests, and the Qin days in the main things, so Jiao day with contaminated, then learning the law, The fashion dictates. Jiao Pingzhen flowers exquisite, its landscape, figures, floor view of the location, since the near and far, arrogant and small, unhappy hair, Department of Western painting. Taste Fengzhao "farming plan" forty-six, village scenery, Tian farming, make the best. Said the purpose, rotary engraving version of India gave Chen workers. Kangxi twenty-eight years (1689) Ichikami article painting taste, Yong Zheng four years (1726) had Zhang Zhao portrait, Jiang Tingxi King.
As a court painter and a scientific official, Jiao Bingzhen, as a court official, worked in the Imperial Academy and knew more about arithmetic and science than the other court painters who served as civil officials. For the westerners based on math and physics Painting is also easier to understand and accept. This is only an objective factor, when the Emperor Kangxi for the participation of Western painting's love and appreciation is Jiao Pingzhen learning subjective factors and important motivation. His works have been featured in many works, such as "Chen", which are more colorful, more compact and detailed. The characters of "participating in the West Law" are mainly arranged in the size of the characters, Perspective and the use of light and space processing, the characters are mostly arranged according to the principles of large and small far, unlike the traditional Chinese painting by the characters as the height of the size of the habit of character size, space processing, but also the characters on a real space , To create a space for the characters as the center, building size also take into account the human scale, even at the expense of the integrity of the building space.
JIAO Bing-zhen's painting has always been a kind of Chinese reality, it seems that the total can not get rid of the painting "freehand" thinking, in his personal work "Come back Come map", we see the traditional Chinese literati painter feelings, There are some perspective on the structure, in terms of subject matter selection or the screen in a large blank the use of methods, have expressed the literati habitual mountain forest recluse thoughts, mood far-reaching, giving infinite reverie.
Ming Dynasty, there is a painter named Tseng whale (1568-1650, the word of Pochen, Putian, Fujian, who live in Jinling), changed the traditional portrayal of Chinese characters, not Pastel rendering, , Bump, or even a picture for each painting, baking up to dozens of layers, until the satisfaction date. At that time, follow him in this way painting portrait of many people, known as the "Pau". JIAO Bing-zhen is the second after Zeng Jing, to create a "Western School" of the famous painter, and Yu Zhiding's "white painted faction" and said the three major faction.