Also known as:
French: Michel Benoît, P. Michel Benoist
BENOIST, MICHEL. - French Jesuit and missionary, b. at Dijon (or at Autun) on 8 Oct. 1715, d. at Peking on 23 Oct. 1774. Having entered the novitiate of Nancy in 1737, he arrived in China in 1744 and was almost immediately called to Peking into the small group of mathematician missionaries at court, whose function was to maintain, through the practice of Western sciences and arts, the imperial benevolence toward the mission.
He had prepared himself with studies of astronomy in Paris, but he could not distinguish himself in this field, because the emperor Kien-lung occupied him for many years in adorning the imperial parks with the magnificences of hydraulic art, cascades, waterworks and the like, in the style of Versailles; he then charged him with the construction of pavilions in the Western style in the famous summer residence (the Yuan-ming-yuan, destroyed in 1860).
B. also took part in cartographic works, and among other things in the execution of the new map of the empire in 104 sheets, for which he introduced anew into China, with notable success, copper engraving. He then had a preponderant part in the negotiations for the engraving in Paris, on behalf of Kien-lung, of the celebrated series of plates Les conquêtes de l'empereur de la Chine after drawings by the missionaries of Peking, and he then had to carry out other printings in Peking. Superior of the residence of Peking in a very difficult time, from 1762 to 1772, B. succumbed to the announcement of the suppression of the Society of Jesus.
Bibliography8 worksSommervogel, I, coll. 1310-11; VIII, col. 1815; Streit-Dindinger, Bibl. Miss., VII, pp. 319-20; Lettres édifiantes, XXXIV, Paris 1781, 286-3
BIBL.: Sommervogel, I, coll. 1310-11; VIII, col. 1815; Streit-Dindinger, Bibl. Miss., VII, pp. 319-20; Lettres édifiantes, XXXIV, Paris 1781, 286-395 and 396-430; XXXVI (1783) pp. 417-29; L. Pfister, Notices biographiques... de l'ancienne mission de Chine, II, Shanghai 1934, pp. 813-26; P. Pellist, Les Conquêtes de l'empereur de la Chine, in Young Poo, 1921 pp. 184-274; E. Lamalle, s. v. in DIIG, VIII, col. 1375-77.
Lamalle, Edmondo. “Benoist, michel.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. II, coll. 1355–1356. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1949. https://azioneromana.com/article/benoist-michel.
MLA
Lamalle, Edmondo. “Benoist, michel.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. II, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1949, coll. 1355–1356. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/benoist-michel.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec2_benoist_michel,
author = {Lamalle, Edmondo},
title = {Benoist, michel},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {II},
pages = {1355--1356},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1949},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/benoist-michel}
}
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