Étienne Chevalier (c.1410 in

Melun Melun () is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region, north-central France. It is located on the southeastern outskirts of Paris, about from the centre of the capital. Melun is the prefecture of the Seine-et-Ma ...

– 1474) was a major civil servant of the French kings Charles VII and

Louis XI Louis XI (3 July 1423 – 30 August 1483), called "Louis the Prudent" (french: le Prudent), was King of France from 1461 to 1483. He succeeded his father, Charles VII. Louis entered into open rebellion against his father in a short-lived revol ...

. He is also notable for commissioning two major works by

Jean Fouquet Jean (or Jehan) Fouquet (ca.1420–1481) was a French painter and miniaturist. A master of panel painting and manuscript illumination, and the apparent inventor of the portrait miniature, he is considered one of the most important painters from ...

- the

Melun Diptych The Melun Diptych is a two-panel oil painting by the French court painter Jean Fouquet (c. 1420–1481) created around 1452. The name of this diptych came from its original home in the Collegiate Church of Notre-Dame in Melun. The left panel dep ...

(which he gave to the Collégiale Notre-Dame de Melun) and the Hours of Étienne Chevalier (in which he is shown twice praying before the Virgin, to whom he is presented by his patron saint

Stephen Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...

Life

The son of a secretary to Charles VII, he was twice sent to England with Guillaume Cousinot de Montreuil before becoming secretary to the king, then conseiller and ''maître des comptes'', ''contrôleur de la recette générale des finances'' and finally treasurer of France (1452). Chevalier,

Jacques Cœur Jacques Cœur (, ; in Bourges – 25 November 1456 in Chios) was a French government official and state-sponsored merchant whose personal fortune became legendary and led to his eventual disgrace. He initiated regular trade routes between Franc ...

and the doctor Robert Poitevin were made executors of the king's favourite

Agnès Sorel Agnès Sorel (; 1422 – 9 February 1450), known by the sobriquet ''Dame de beauté'' (Lady of Beauty), was a favourite and chief mistress of King Charles VII of France, by whom she bore four daughters. She is considered the first officially r ...

, probably the model for the Virgin Mary in the second panel of the Melun Diptych.

Sources

* Pierre Clément, ''Jacques Cœur et Charles VII, ou La France au XVe siècle'', Guillaumin, Paris, 1853, pp. 76–7

* Press dossier for the exhibition ''L'enluminure en France au temps de Jean Fouquet'', 26 March - 22 June 2003, musée Condé,

château de Chantilly The Château de Chantilly () is a historic French château located in the town of Chantilly, Oise, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of Paris. The site comprises two attached buildings: the Petit Château built around 1560 for Anne de Montmor ...

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. {{DEFAULTSORT:Chevalier People from Melun 1410 births 1474 deaths People of the Hundred Years' War