Jean-Baptiste Le Chevalier
French astronomer, art historian and archaeologist
Jean-Baptiste Le Chevalier (July 1, 1752, in Trelly, Manche department – July 2, 1836, in Paris, Saint-Étienne-du-Mont) was a French scholar, astronomer and archaeologist.
Le Chevalier studied in Paris and taught from 1772 to 1778 at several colleges. He was appointed by the French Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire Choiseul-Gouffier to undertake archaeological research in the region. He visited Italy and the north-west coast of Anatolia, where he devoted his studies particularly to the identification of Troy.
After the outbreak of the French Revolution he returned to France. In 1790 he travelled to London, toured Europe in the following years and returned only in 1795 to France.
In 1806 he was employed as the first curator of the Sainte-Geneviève Library in Paris.
Publications
Voyage de la Troade, ou table de la plaine de Troie dans son état actuel (London 1794)
Reise nach Troas oder Gemählde der Ebene von Troja in ihrem gegenwärtigen Zustande, Altenburg, 1800
Voyage de la Propontide et du Pont-Euxin (London 1800, 2 Bde.)
Reise durch den Propontis und Pontus-Euxinus. Liegnitz und Leipzig: Siegert, 1801.
Note
He is not to be confused with the French traveller Jean-Baptiste Chevalier who was governor of Chandernagore in 1767.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Jean-Baptiste Le Chevalier” is french astronomer, art historian and archaeologist. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Jean-Baptiste, Chevalier and French, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “french astronomer, art historian and archaeologist” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1685344. VIAF identifies the subject as 14772574. The Library of Congress control number is nr92044359. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1752, 1836, 1772 and 1778.
Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Jean-Baptiste Le Chevalier”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Jean-Baptiste Le Chevalier primary sources, Jean-Baptiste Le Chevalier archive and Jean-Baptiste research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Jean-Baptiste Le Chevalier”?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Jean-Baptiste Le Chevalier” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.