Published tributes
Lectures on Art: Selected Conférences from the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, 1667–1772, ed. Christian Michel and Jacqueline Lichtenstein, GRI, 2020. Christian Michel writes:
'This book…owes a great deal to Chris Miller’s attentiveness and effective translations. To make readable English of The Blind Spot and The Birth of the French School was one thing, and difficult enough; the lectures read out by the academicians, with their sometimes incompletely mastered French and often archaic usages, constituted a quite different challenge, which he overcame with remarkable success.'
Christian Michel: The Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture. The Birth of the French School, 1648–1793, GRI, 2018:
‘The constant exchanges with Chris Miller during the course of this translation made it clear to me how many ambiguous expressions remained in the French edition of this book. He is in large measure responsible for the improvements to be found in the English edition…’
Dario [& Libero] Gamboni: The Museum as Experience, Brepols, 2019:
‘…Chris Miller, whose English translation allowed me to improve the original text…'
Quatremère de Quincy, Letters to Miranda and Canova, GRI, 2012
Dominique Poulot, Professor at the Sorbonne (Université Paris 1):
‘Chris Miller has proven to be the most talented translator and, above all, the most astonishing reader one could imagine. His remarks were always accurate, his suggestions provocative and inspiring. The final text owes a lot to his obstinate will to make it clear and smart’.
David Gilks, Lecturer in Modern European History, University of East Anglia:
‘My greatest debt, however, is to Chris Miller: combining rare science and linguistic expertise, candid criticism, and patience, he made this collaborative effort as educational as it was enjoyable.’
Tributes
Isabelle Tillerot, Isabelle Tillerot, emailing me about my translation of East Asian Aesthetics and the Space of Painting in Eighteenth-Century Europe (GRI, 2024):
"Par morceau joué à quatre mains, je ne songeais pas à notre correspondance, mais à ce livre! Et c’était un compliment, pour toutes les précisions et les raffinements que vous y apportés
By work for four hands, I didn’t mean our correspondence, but this book. And it was a compliment, for all the nicety of detail that you’ve brought to it."
Julien Zanetta, lecturer in French literature at the Université de Saint-Louis, Brussels, and at the Université Catholique de Louvain, emailing me about my translation of his essay in the second volume of the Andries Bonger-Odilon Redon Correspondence, forthcoming:
"À la relecture de votre traduction, je ne peux que vous remercier sincèrement de toute l'attention que vous avez portée à mon texte et la délicatesse des choix que vous avez opérés. Je m'y suis retrouvé – et c'est la première fois que cela m'arrive.
Rereading your translation, I can only offer my sincere thanks for all the attention you have given to my text and for the very subtle choices you made. I recognise myself in this translation – and it’s the first time that’s ever happened."
Eugenie Baulch, who copy-edited my translation of Degas. A New Vision, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and Art Exhibitions Australia, NGV, Melbourne, 2016, emailed this. (No one reads a translation more carefully than the copy-editor.)
"You have done the most magnificent job on this translation; it has been a complete pleasure to work on!"
Iria Candela, Estrellita B. Brodsky Curator of Latin America Art at the Met Museum, emailing me in a mixture of Spanish and English about my translation from Spanish of her book Contraposiciones / Art in Latin America, Tate Publishing, 2013:
"Ayer y hoy he estado echando un vistazo a tu traducción [I spent yesterday and today glancing over your translation] – what an excellent job! Thanks so much. I have small comments here and there, but in general terms I am very happy with your translation. Se lee de maravilla y tu versión en inglés es ágil, inteligente y elegante [It reads wonderfully and your English version is smart, limber, and graceful]."
Alain Schnapp, Emeritus Professor of Greek Archaeology and Former Director of the Faculty of Art History and Archaeology at the Sorbonne and former Director of the Institut national de l’histoire de l’art, emailing me in 2012 about my correction of a text he had written in English:
"Cher Chris, il m'est difficile de vous exprimer une fois de plus ma reconnaissance pour votre attention et votre aide. Toutes vos corrections me paraissent justifiées. J'ai tenté de tenir compte de vos suggestions de fond qui sont d'une grande rigueur critique.
"Dear Chris, I find it hard to express yet again all the gratitude I feel for your your attentiveness and assistance. All your corrections feel right. I’ve tried to attend to your basic suggestions, which show great critical penetration."
Bernard Barryte, Curator, Kirk Edward Long Collection, emailing me about the translation of a four-line Latin epigram on Falsehood and flax-hackling [!] in a print donated to the Cantor Centre (8 September 2009):
"Dear Chris,
I'm dazzled – and so much more than a 'mere' translator...by far! Not only impressed, but extremely grateful. The collector who purchased this print for us will be delighted as well. I really must thank the Getty for recommending you."
Jacques de Gheyn II, St. Luke, 1588.
Engraving, 17.6 x 17.8 inches.
Courtesy Kirk Edward Long Collection.
Diane Mark-Walker, copy-editor for Jacqueline Lichtenstein, The Blind Spot, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, 2008, (and several other books on which I worked – I can’t ask Diane’s permission, since she died in 2014, but we were good virtual friends) emailing me in 2008:
"By the way, I should let you know that you have most definitively won the Sweetheart Translator award in our department – every single editor wants YOU as the translator for their next French book. A translator needs so many different skills and attributes . . . and you have them all."
