Louis François Aubry

Jean-Baptiste Chabus

The gentleman is seated in an armchair, holding a letter in his left hand and looking at the observer with a calm smile. The inscription on the document identifies the sitter and indicates the occasion on which the miniature was created: "A Monsieur/J.B.Chabus/à Paris/L.G(d) Ch(er)/de la Lég (on)/D'honneur". It is the letter by which Maréchal Duc de Tarente, grand chancellor of the Légion d'honneur, appointed Jean-Baptiste Chabus knight of the Légion. Chabus was born in Lyon on April 8, 1769. He became revenue officer of the French finance ministry and collected outstanding revenues in Italy, for which he received the order of the Légion d'honneur. The ceremony is described in the "Procès-verbal de réception d'un chevalier de l'ordre royal de la Légion d'honneur" from November 5, 1829: On his knees, Chabus listened to the profession of loyalty to the king, stating that he had to disclose anything against royalty, that he would not be allowed to serve another sovereign without permission of the king and that he would have to obey the laws and do everything suitable for a knight of the Légion d'honneur. In this picture painted by Aubry in the year of the appointment Chabus is wearing the medal on his left breast. ¹

¹ We are grateful to René Maître, Paris, and a gentleman who does not wish to be named for their research on the sitter.