Michel Benoist

Michel Benoist was a Jesuit scientist who served for thirty years in the court of the Qianlong Emperor during the Qing dynasty, known for his architectural and landscape designs of the Old Summer Palace. Along with Giuseppe Castiglione, Benoist served as one of two Jesuit advisors to the Qianlong Emperor, and transformed parts of the Old Summer Palace into what historian Mark Elliott calls an "imitation of Versailles or Fontainebleau."