I'm working with a researcher trying to track the provenance of an image used in the graphic design/type history _La lettre et l'image_ by Massin, published in 1970 by Gallimard. (The fact that I have almost no French makes this more difficult than usual.)
The image in question is a really wonderful portrait of Martin Luther, done in the style of Hebrew micrography, where the portrait is done with precise and tiny script of text from Martin Luther's own works. I can send the image as an attachment to anyone
that's interested. According to my researcher, the book says that the image is in the Bibliotheque Nationale and from the sixteenth century, but that's it.
My first impulse is to just email the BNF and hope they can recognize the image. But since I'm not an art librarian, nor very knowledgeable in French, I thought I'd ask you all first: are there other leads I should try? Does the BNF have an image search
that I wasn't able to find? I also have a copy of _La lettre et l'image_ on order, just to see if there are additional image credits hiding out in the book itself.
Thanks!
Amanda
____________________________________
Amanda Rust
English & Theatre Librarian
Northeastern University
360 Huntington Avenue, Boston MA 02116
____________________________________