Biography

Chalon was born in Geneva but moved with his family to London at the time of the French Revolution. He studied at the Royal Academy Schools from 1797 and established a reputation as a fashionable portraitist in watercolours. He was appointed Portrait Painter in Watercolours to Queen Victoria in 1837 and he was the first artist to whom she sat after her accession. His portrait of the young queen was used on early issues of colonial stamps.