A minister of Tianshui Though there has been praise for Huizong's artistic achievements, and there are scattered references in old documents to his accomplishments, up to the present time there has been no systematic account of his enormous contribution to Chinese culture and heritage. So Ricardo Joppert has made it his mission to compile such a work, building on all of his many connections with China.
天水之臣固然，後人推崇宋徽宗在藝術上的造詣，歷史文獻上零零星星地可以發現宋徽宗的一些成就，但至今尚未見全面有系統地論述徽宗於中國文化傳承之重要性的著作，所以黎嘉德以此為他的天命，所有他和中國文化的因緣都是為此作準備。