Étienne Chevalier was a major civil servant of the French kings Charles VII

Charles VII of France

Charles VII , called the Victorious or the Well-Served , was King of France from 1422 to his death, though he was initially opposed by Henry VI of England, whose Regent, the Duke of Bedford, ruled much of France including the capital, Paris...

 and Louis XI

Louis XI of France

Louis XI , called the Prudent , was the King of France from 1461 to 1483. He was the son of Charles VII of France and Mary of Anjou, a member of the House of Valois....

. He is also notable for commissioning two major works by Jean Fouquet

Jean Fouquet

Jean Fouquet was a preeminent French painter of the 15th century, a master of both panel painting and manuscript illumination, and the apparent inventor of the portrait miniature. He was the first French artist to travel to Italy and experience at first hand the Italian Early...

 - the Melun Diptych

Melun Diptych

Melun Diptych is an diptych created by Jean Fouquet. Commissioned by Etienne Chevalier for the Collegiate Church of Notre-Dame and completed in 1450, one wing currently hangs in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp, Belgium, the other in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, Germany.The name of the diptych...

 (which he gave to the Collégiale Notre-Dame de Melun) and the Hours of Étienne Chevalier

Hours of Étienne Chevalier

The Hours of Étienne Chevalier is an illuminated book of hours commissioned by Étienne Chevalier, treasurer to king Charles VII of France, from the miniature painter and illuminator Jean Fouquet....

 (in which he is shown twice praying before the Virgin, to whom he is presented by his patron saint Stephen

Saint Stephen

Saint Stephen The Protomartyr , the protomartyr of Christianity, is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox Churches....

).

Life

The son of a secretary to Charles VII, he was twice sent to England with Guillaume Cousinot de Montreuil

Guillaume Cousinot de Montreuil

Guillaume Cousinot de Montreuil was a French diplomat, magistrate and civil servant. He served as France's diplomatic representative in England between 1444 and 1449, during a period of truce between the two countries....

 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

Jacques Cœur , was a French merchant, one of the founders of the trade between France and the Levant.- Origins :He was born at Bourges, the city where his father, Pierre Cœur, was a rich merchant...

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

Agnès Sorel

Agnès Sorel , known by the sobriquet Dame de beauté, was a favourite mistress of King Charles VII of France, for whom she bore three daughters....

, 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. 76–77 http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k201446j.image.f184.tableDesMatieres.langFR. Press dossier for the exhibition L'enluminure en France au temps de Jean Fouquet, 26 March - 22 June 2003, musée Condé, château de Chantilly

Château de Chantilly

The Château de Chantilly is a historic château located in the town of Chantilly, France. It comprises two attached buildings; the Grand Château, destroyed during the French Revolution and rebuilt in the 1870s, and the Petit Château which was built around 1560 for Anne de Montmorency...

http://www.chateaudechantilly.com/pdf/DPresse-18.pdf.