J. B. Clery.

A half length portrait, enclosed in an oval, of Jean Baptiste Cant Hanet de Cléry (1759-1809), valet de chambre to the doomed King Louis XVI. His portrait rests on a stone carved with a sleeping dog, symbol of fidelity. Cléry’s family had been in the service of the French Royal Family since the time of Louis XIV. Together with his brother, he began his career with the Princesse de Guenenee who was the governess of the royal children. He then became the valet de chambre to the newly-born Duke of Normandy (later the Dauphin) in 1785. From 1789, he acted as valet to King Louis XVI. He was allowed to wait on the Royal Family during their imprisonment in the Temple in Paris. After the execution of Louis XVI, Cléry accompanied the Madame Royale (Marie-Therese de Bourbon) on her exile to Vienna, where he continued to serve until his death. In 1798, he published his memoir of the events as the Journal of Occurrences at the Temple During the Confinement of Louis XVI, King of France, popularly referred to as A Journal of the Terror.