#doesn't change the fact that fabre could just bullshit his friend that he escaped prison to make it more interesting

[edgysaintjust]

Fabre d’Eglantine picks a fight with a commissioner (and is possibly imprisoned, again)

During the travels of Fabre in his youth, he settled for a while in Sedan, where he tried to make money as a painter. The case of one unfortunate commission of M. Devos led to serious legal issues over the assigned painting, and yes, this story is hilarious.

One day, it was in Sedan, around 1780, he painted a certain Sieur Devos, a merchant's clerk, who had promised him a miniature for this portrait, just 24 francs. When the painting is finished, Mr. Devos refuses to pay the price, on the pretext that the portrait does not resemble and cannot please the tender lover for whom he intends it. He will therefore go to court, and the trial allows Fabre d'Eglantine to write a memoir against the sieur Devos, merchant clerk, in which he finds himself, not on the equal of Beaumarchais fighting Gœzman, but of a still very remarkable verve , the whole spirit of the playwright.

Fabre d'Églantine a la comédie française, lecture faite a la aéance annuelle de la société de l'histoire de la révolution, on 14th march 1897

Fabre therefore lists all the demands of his commissioner in the petty memoirs, and he will use this writing in court against Devos. The list includes demands such as: painting the model’s hair brown (but powdered to blond) instead of his natural ginger, covering the smallpox spots on his face, reducing the redness of his complexion, using a very specific shade of grey for his coat and making him look joyful. It seems, however, that Fabre (intending it or not) did not satisfy the expectations of his commissioner. Example given, Devos is not pleased with Fabre using the colour red on his painting (despite it being necessary in realistic portraits) and argues that his face looks too blushy.

“When Mr. Devos saw me dip my brush in the colour red - Is it, he asked me, to colour the cheeks that you take this vermilion? - No, sir, I replied, it's to line your eyes. – Ah! my God, please don't redden my eyelids! My custom is not to have them like this! It will pass! “

Fabre d'Églantine, Mémoire contre le sieur Devos

Another complaint followed the “tricolour hair” Fabre made his model wear, but a real issue seems to be his reckless expression on the portrait. At some point Devos claims that Fabre makes him look too serious for a miniature that will be given to a lady.

- "Ah! I understand you. You would like to have a laughing mouth, to have a jolly air, an air...

-"Yes, precisely, those airs which interest the fair sex.”

[...]

"Always complacent, I made Sieur Devos laugh, in spite of nature; but I did not expect that it would be at my expense!"

Fabre d'Églantine, Mémoire contre le sieur Devos

We do not know if the trial ended well for Fabre, according to this source analysing the situation and Fabre’s memoirs, it is truly unknown. On the other hand, Roussel, (Fabre’s contemporary and friend who included his short biography in the first volume of his published love letters to Marie Joly) claims that Devos succeeded to have Fabre arrested and imprisoned, and that Fabre managed to escape and find refuge in Liège. In his defence we can also add that the portrait was shown to officers in Sedan, who recognized Devos on it without issue.