John Finlay

Thèmes de recherche

• Rencontres artistiques et culturelles entre la Chine et la France au XVIIIe siècle
• Le ministre d’État Henri Bertin (1720-1792) et les missionnaires jésuites français à Pékin
• Production de peintures en Chine au XVIIIe siècle pour le marché européen

Communications et publications

• Project team member with Lavaulx-Vrécourt, Henriette and Leverenz, Niklas. Berliner Schlachtenkupfer / Berlin Battle Engravings: 34 Druckplatten der Kaiser von China / 34 Copperplates for the Emperors of China, Deutscher Kunstverlag (DKV), 2021 (https://www.degruyter.com/document/isbn/9783422987685/html). ISBN: 9783422987685
• Henri Bertin and the Representation of China in Eighteenth-Century France. New York and London: Routledge, 2020 (https://www.routledge.com/Henri-Bertin-and-the-Representation-of-China-in-Eighteenth-Century-France/Finlay/p/book/9781138204737). ISBN: 9781138204737
• “Henri Bertin and the Presents from Louis XV to the Qianlong Emperor.” In Les Présents diplomatiques entre la Chine et l’Europe aux XVIIe siècles – XVIIIe siècles, edited by Arianne Fenneteau, Liliane Hilaire-Pérez and Zhao Bing (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols Publishers, forthcoming 2019). Paper presented at the First International LIA TrEnamelFC Colloquium “Diplomatic Gifts between China and Europe in the 17th–18th Centuries” (Paris, 4-5 May, 2017).
• “Constructing an Authentic China: Henri Bertin and Chinese Architecture in 18th-Century France.” In Stephen H. Whiteman, ed., Rhetorics of Landscape: Articulating Authority across the Early Modern World, Studies in Landscape Architecture, edited by John Dixon Hunt (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, forthcoming 2019).
• “Henri Bertin (1720–1792) and Images of the Yuanmingyuan in Eighteenth-century France.” In Louise Tythacott, ed., Collecting and Displaying China’s “Summer Palace” in the West: The Yuanmingyuan in Britain and France (Abingdon, Oxford, U.K.: Routledge, 2018), 123-137. Paper presented as “Henri Bertin (1720–1792) and the 40 Views of the Yuanming yuan in 18th-century France” at the conference The Yuanmingyuan in Britain and France: Representations of the ‘Summer Palace’ in the West, University of Manchester, Manchester, England, 8-9 July 2013.
• “Collecting Paintings and Other Objects from China in Late 18th–Century France.” Presentation at A Literati Gathering in Honor of David Ake Sensabaugh, Schermerhorn Hall, Columbia University, New York, 10 March 2017.
• “Henri Bertin and the Construction of a Confucian Scholar in 18th-Century France.” Paper for the Colloque international les échanges artistiques comme vecteurs culturels entre la Chine et l’Europe aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles, Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille, 20-21 October 2016.
• “Qing Court Painting Outside the Court: Evidence from 18th-Century France.” Presentation for the Workshop on Imperial Form: Style, Technology, and Materiality in the Qing Court Workshops, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, 25-26 July, 2016.
• “‘See the Paintings’: Henri Bertin and the Image of China in 18th-Century France.” Presentation at the Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, 25 July 2016.
• “Henri Bertin and the Representation of China in 18th-Century France.” Paper for the panel “Moving Objects: Representations of Chinese Art in Europe” at the conference Creating Markets, Collecting Art: Celebrating 250 Years of Christie’s, Christie’s London, 14-15 July 2016.
• “Between France and China in the Late 18th Century: Henri Bertin and the Commerce in Images.” In Petra Chu and Ning Ding, eds., Qing Encounters: Artistic Exchanges between China and the West (Los Angeles: Getty Institute, 2015), 79-94. Paper presented as “Imperial Art and Cultural Commerce: The 40 Views of the Yuanming Yuan in 18th-Century France,” at the conference Qing Encounters: Artistic Exchanges between China and the West, sponsored by Peking University and Seton Hall University, Beijing, 10-13 October 2012.
• “‘Chinese Ceilings’ and the Knowledge of Linear Perspective in 18th-Century China.” Paper for the panel “Ideology and Technology: Artistic visions constructing cultural identities and political authority,” organized by Roslyn Hammers (University of Hong Kong) for the 14th International Conference on the History of Science in East Asia (14th ICHSEA), Paris, 6-10 July 2015.
• “Réalisme et exactitude: Les albums d’architecture chinoise envoyés au ministre Henri Bertin à la fin du 18e siècle.” Presentation for the Groupe de travail sur les missionnaires en Chine, EHESS, 8 January 2014.
• “Imperial Ideology in the Landscape: The Qianlong Emperor’s Forty Views of the Yuanming yuan.” Presentation for the international conference The Forbidden City, Imperial Palaces and Royal Courts: Symbols of Imperial and Monarchical Power in the East and West Compared, Boulogne-Sur-Mer (France), September 25–28, 2013.
• “Henri Bertin (1720-1792) and the 40 Views of the Yuanming yuan in 18th-century France.” Paper for the conference The Yuanmingyuan in Britain and France: Representations of the ‘Summer Palace’ in the West, University of Manchester, Manchester, England, July 8–9, 2013.
• « Henri Bertin (1720-1792) et la connaissance authentique de la Chine ». Intervention pour le colloque Vérités et mensonges dans les sociétés orientales, Société Asiatique – Collège de France, Centre de recherche sur les civilisations de l’Asie orientale (CNRS-UMR8155) et unité Proche-Orient – Caucase (CNRS-UMR7192), 10–11 juin 2013.
• « Voyez les peintures : Henri-Léonard Bertin et la vision de l'architecture chinoise en France à la fin du XVIIIe siècle ». Présentation pour le groupe de travail: Dessins et images techniques: défis des sources en histoire des techniques en Asie orientale, 4 juin 2013.
• « Henri Bertin et les Vases chinois : Connaissances de la porcelaine chinoise en France à la fin du XVIIIe siècle ». Conférence dans le cadre de la série Actualité de la recherche en céramique chinoise, 25 avril 2013.
• “Imperial Art and Cultural Commerce: The ‘40 Views of the Yuanming Yuan’ in 18th-Century France.” Paper for the conference Qing Encounters: Artistic Exchanges between China and the West, sponsored by Peking University and Seton Hall University, Beijing, October 10-13, 2012. To be published as “Henri Bertin and the Commerce in Images between France and China in the Late Eighteenth Century” in the conference volume, Qing Encounters: Artistic Exchanges between China and the West, Petra Chu, ed., Los Angeles: The Getty Research Institute (forthcoming).
• “The Imperial Focal Point: Trompe-l’oeil Perspective Illusions for the Qianlong Emperor in the European Palaces of the Yuanming yuan.” Presentation for the symposium Artful Retreat: Garden Culture of the Qing Dynasty, co-organized by the Peabody Essex Museum and Harvard University, November 12–13, 2010, in conjunction with the exhibition The Emperor's Private Paradise: Treasures from the Forbidden City, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts, 14 September 2010–9 January 2011.
• “The Qianlong Emperor’s Western Vistas: Linear Perspective and Trompe l’Oeil Illusion in the European Palaces of the Yuanming yuan,” Bulletin de l’École Française d’Extrême-Orient 94 (2007, published 2010): pp. 159–193.