Charles Châtenay
Voiced by Alan Mozes
Charles Châtenay is one of the named cast of Red Dead Redemption 2, working as stranger. The facts below are the ones the wiki records.
Runs a side job off the main story, marked on the map with a letter.
- Role
- Strangers
- Voice actor
- Alan Mozes
- Status
- Not stated
- Occupation
- Artist
- Affiliations
- Arthur Morgan (determinant), John Marston (determinant)
Player notes
Charles Châtenay is a French artist who once works in Paris. Critics reject his painting and drawing, and he leaves France to continue his career abroad. By the time Arthur Morgan or John Marston meets him in Saint Denis, he has travelled widely and settled among the city's society. He treats scandal and disapproval lightly, even when his art and private affairs make him enemies.
At Doyle's Tavern, Charles shares brandy with Arthur or John and speaks about the pictures he has made during his travels. He gives the protagonist a sketch before departing. The next day, an armed husband confronts Charles outside his home over an affair with the man's wife. After the protagonist drives the man away, Charles invites him to an exhibition at Galerie Laurent.
The gallery fills with Saint Denis residents until its guests recognise upper-class women in Charles' nude paintings. Their likenesses leave little doubt about how closely the artist knew his subjects, and furious husbands start a brawl. Charles slips away amid the disorder and says he must disappear for several days. He later reappears in Chinatown dressed as a Chinese prostitute, hiding from the citizens pursuing him.
Charles tells Arthur or John that he intends to flee Saint Denis for the South Pacific and asks for help reaching a ship. At the docks, men waiting to punish him attack. Charles runs for the vessel while the protagonist holds them off, then the two say goodbye before Charles leaves the city. A later letter reports that he is living in French Polynesia, painting freely and grateful for his friend's aid.
Trivia
- ◆Châtenay appears to be partially based on French artist Paul Gauguin, whose early works were often panned or deemed outright obscene by critics. Gauguin spent much of the 1890s living and painting in French Polynesia, especially Tahiti, in the South Pacific. His art gained critical acclaim in the decades following his death in the Marquesas Islands.
- ◆The Prix Luxury mansion, introduced in the A Safe House in the Hills content update for Grand Theft Auto Online, features an exact replica of a painting seen inside the Braithwaite Manor from Red Dead Redemption 2. However, the artwork is credited in-universe to a "C. Châtenay" within the HD Universe. The artist’s name is a reference to Charles Châtenay—an artist unrelated to the original painting—whose first name is vaguely abbreviated to avoid a direct mention.
- ◆As an addendum, Charles Châtenay was also referenced more directly in the 2021 Frogwares game Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One through a painting of nude buttocks titled Bollington From Behind. The work is attributed in-universe to a “Charles Chatenay” and is displayed in an art gallery alongside other erotic pieces by controversial artists of the era, such as Gustave Courbet and Édouard Manet. Though, this game uses the spelling “Chatenay,” without the accent on the â—likely altered to avoid potential legal issues.
Character data from Red Dead Wiki, CC BY-SA. Not affiliated with Rockstar Games.
Last verified September 14, 2026