Bénédicte Miyamoto
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miyamotoben.bsky.social
Bénédicte Miyamoto
@miyamotoben.bsky.social
4K followers 2.5K following 270 posts
Historian of 18c Britain (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris - CREW EA 4399)
Book history, Art World, Pigment, Auction, Migration, Circulation of knowledge & Artists. Currently resident scholar at CNRS (délégation)
She/her/Dr
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miyamotoben.bsky.social
Feeling like things are tipping you over the edge? Look at this gorgeous detail from Quentin Pierre Chedel's book of prints, with fisherman falling out of the page...
Landscape, from a series of six landscapes dedicated to Madame La Marquise de Pompadour, where fishermen figures are made to tip over the marie louise border from toppling as they pull fishing nets, shaded in trompe l'oeil to appear as if they are falling out of the drawing's border.
November 28, 2025 at 7:59 PM
miyamotoben.bsky.social
Anyone identifies this french currency?
Price in ink, on the front end leave of a greek and latin primer.
November 20, 2025 at 10:58 AM
miyamotoben.bsky.social
#Slop meant liquid mud or slush in the eighteenth century. If we're all going to drown in it, let's at least do it the #18thc way!
An eighteenth century print showing Dr slop, a character from Sterne, drowning in a pond, overthrown from his horse. Coloured print, comical because of the puppet-like quality of the characters.
November 20, 2025 at 7:09 AM
miyamotoben.bsky.social
How your email finds me.

Alexander Browne, compendious Drawing Book, London : Austin Holdisworth 1677
Two full standing figures, their hand coming to their mouths, one a skeleton, the other a fleshed out nude - part of an anatomy drawing exercise, but looking uncannily like they are stifling a yawn Engraving on yellowed paper, detail of a larger plate
September 11, 2025 at 2:40 PM
miyamotoben.bsky.social
The preacher's daughter in Footloose opening her jacket to reveal a "dance your ass off" tshirt during the church council debate on whether the town should have a prom
July 11, 2025 at 5:29 AM
miyamotoben.bsky.social
Send help #earlymodern #paleography wizards! This inked out annotations seems to be a price - but it doesn't look English trade to me?

#BNF Profitable Boke 1583
Photo of Profitable Boke, 1583, from BNF collection - top of title page bears an undecipherable black ink (price?) point, with grey wash to cover it. The paper is thick and the print is slight, and the smell of early modern books in the morning is delightful!
June 19, 2025 at 10:21 AM
miyamotoben.bsky.social
Taking a day off from the writing is good!
Cup of coffee in focus on a parisian terrasse table, with the Goerge pompidou museum in the background (out of focus for a relaxed atmosphere - or at least that's the semi artistic intent!)
May 29, 2025 at 11:49 AM
miyamotoben.bsky.social
Lush! Reminds me of these nineteenth-century watercolour manuals that included colour samples... and which readers turned into trial and error pallets for colour match!
A page from Smith's Young Artist Assistant published in 1824, where the hand drawn colour samples, in the colour recipe list, also show traces of paint stains - brushstrokes attempts from readers trying to get a colour match
May 14, 2025 at 11:09 AM
miyamotoben.bsky.social
Send help #earlymodern #paleography wizards! I can read " **** covetous and rowdy to employ any sorry dauber that will work *** than a good workman that will expect a reasonable reward" #18c 🗃️
Image of a margin annotation in brown ink, late 17th c hand, in Marshall Smith's art of painting.
April 25, 2025 at 11:56 AM
miyamotoben.bsky.social
Mood of the day...

Skeleton *gestures broadly at everything*

+ facepalm sketchy guy

Ruyssen, collection of principles, 1803
Plate showing anatomy and proportion studies in a drawing book, three figures, the main one a fully drawn skeleton, two others as sketched lines. The three look absolutely dejected, the central figure waves its arm as if to encompass all the misery of the world...
March 27, 2025 at 8:01 PM
miyamotoben.bsky.social
Reminds me of the marble slab repository at the national Library, Paris (BNF).
As enticing as an ice cream parlour!
Enclosed room with shelves on which are deposited various slabs of marbles, at the BNF marble repository, Paris. Many colours and vein patterns can be seen.
March 22, 2025 at 12:43 PM
miyamotoben.bsky.social
Merci du partage - je rajoute la bibliothèque de Toulouse à ma bucket liste! Le Libellius artificiosus de la BNF est lui aussi paré des mêmes traces d'usages...
C'est fascinant de voir les mêmes comportements qui surgissent sur tous les livres à dessins européens... (ma spécialité, c'est plutôt 🇬🇧)
Sur la planche de têtes de têtes du libellus artificiosus, 1540, un des bustes gravés est gribouillé à l'encre brune (= encre fait maison, et pas encre de la presse), le coloris par hâchures a bavé sur le coté... Sur la planche des armes du Libellus artificiosus, 1540, BNF, des prolongation d'ahchures à l'encre brune et la copie en marge de la ligne tourbillonnante sont des preuves d'utilisation du livre.
February 12, 2025 at 10:19 AM
miyamotoben.bsky.social
Great question! Its more about quality than quantity - although I do coherently find more stains on copy plates and colour recipe pages! Analysis from the Library of Congress conservation team on a sample of my corpus has found that these stains were indeed from artist's materials
X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy machine hovering above an eighteenth century painting manual, analyzing a red wash stain, in the library of congress conservation lab.
February 12, 2025 at 9:09 AM
miyamotoben.bsky.social
At the BNF, continuing my hunt for stains and colours in drawing and painting manuals - how hands-on was artistic teaching through books? what's the difference between a secret book and an "art of painting"? What in essence was a handbook... #manuals #bookhistory #18thcentury
Stained page from a drawing manual - close up on the text and the word "lampblack" covered by a grey wash splatter Spine of collated tracks from the Bibliothèque Royale, in the soft glow of library lamps, at the BNF rare books room
February 11, 2025 at 2:37 PM
miyamotoben.bsky.social
I’d forgotten how surreal the light is in Provence … Arles amphitheater radiating warmth in December!
Arles amphitheater arches reflecting the sunlight under blue sky View of the city, looking down on the famous café aficion and showing the small streets of Arles, from the top of the amphitheater’s medieval towers. Bright bright light and bluest of sky!
December 28, 2024 at 8:28 PM
miyamotoben.bsky.social
#16thc pulpit stairs in the church of Saint Thibaud, Joigny in Burgundy. The foliated scrolls are so fine, and the usually cold white stone were glowing in winter razing light!
Side view of the church pulpit, with the nave on the left and the side aisle on the right, looking towards the narthex. The winter light picks up the relief of renaissance carvings, and two blurred figures hurry up the stairs to reach the pulpit. White stone color predominates, with a speck of color from the small stain glass as vanishing point.
December 22, 2024 at 9:24 PM
miyamotoben.bsky.social
Where exactly does learning happen, where precisely is knowledge practiced? Reading both of these 👇 side by side is a delight - from the workshop to the anatomy theatre; from the library to the laboratory, science is embodied and takes place somewhere specific! (Ref in alt text) 🗃️ #earlymodern #c18
Covers of academic books on a messy desk. On the left : Metropolitan Science : London Sites and Cultures of Knowledge and Practice, C. 1600-1800, ed Higgit, Kilburn-Toppin and Moxham, 2024, Bloomsbury (cover sports a green and red coloured early modern map of London); on the right : Une histoire émotionnelle du savoir XVIIe-XXIe siècle, by Waquet, 2019, CNRS (cover is a early modern wood paneled library with shelves of rare books)
December 17, 2024 at 8:57 PM
miyamotoben.bsky.social
Wood paneling, old book smells and hushed footsteps on red velvet carpet… the Paris Richelieu BNF manuscripts room in its old fashioned glory…
Photo of the entrance of the manuscript room, with the round staircase and rows of book on the right - brownish tones View of the whole room and red carpetted side aisle of the manuscript room, rows of books on the left hand side and Parisian wood parquet - brownish and red velvet hue
December 16, 2024 at 3:39 PM
miyamotoben.bsky.social
According to their « identité de la charte graphique » it is supposed to look like stackable cubes, to remind us of filing boxes and shelves… I think it is also reminiscent of floppy disks? (The A in particular)?
A view of the Archives nationales signpost with a massive A as starter letter and smaller letters stacked up as a paragraph, with a pouting arrow. The sign is photographed from below, showing blue sky beyond
December 16, 2024 at 11:15 AM
miyamotoben.bsky.social
L’hiver est là ! Crisp winter light at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, BNF Tolbiac … good reading to you all!
A portrait view of the red carpeted corridor of the BNF research floor, with crisp light coming through the immense bay windows on the right hand side, making the wood panels and grey concrete structures on the left glow. Vanishing point view in straight perspective, which enhances the majestic view of the tall structure. Tiny bit of Bluesky on the right hand top corner, peaceful atmosphere
December 4, 2024 at 3:49 PM
miyamotoben.bsky.social
Kate Heard takes us to the backstage of Windsor and George IV’s print collection in « A Peep into Windsor Castle » 🎨🖼️
Kate Heard pointing to details of her slide, seated at the conference table
November 30, 2024 at 1:33 PM
miyamotoben.bsky.social
Camilla Murgia (AMU Poznań) introduces our keynote speaker Kate Heard (Royal Collection Trust) to wrap up this conference on Backstage Sociability
Camilla Mirgia standing next to Kate Heard, while the latter prepares her slides
November 30, 2024 at 1:29 PM
miyamotoben.bsky.social
Rafaëlle Hassine (L’École des hautes études en sciences sociales) reviews « Artist Liaisons and the Shaping of the Global Offer in the Primary Market for Contemporary Art »
Rafaëlle Hassine in front of her slides, with a long view of the room showing the audience and the programme at the right hand corner
November 30, 2024 at 11:14 AM
miyamotoben.bsky.social
Barbara Lasic @sothebysinstitute.bsky.social (Sotheby’s Institute of Art) uncovers « An Expedient Collaboration: The synergistic relationship between Joseph Duveen and the Palais des Beaux-arts de la ville de Paris, #20c » #skystorians
Barbara Lasic in front of her slides of masterpieces (Moreau, etc..) linked with Duveen
November 30, 2024 at 11:12 AM
miyamotoben.bsky.social
Michał Mencfel (AMU Poznań) chairs the last panel on the sociable skills of the « Agent extraordinaire »
Michał Mencfel standing next to speaker Barbara Lasic while she loads her slides
November 30, 2024 at 11:12 AM