The Duc de Choiseul’s Snuffbox

The Duc de Choiseul’s Snuffbox

I wanted to catch a glimpse of this treasure for which the Louvre launched a fundraising campaign: the marvelous Duc de Choiseul’s Snuffbox, its six sides painted with Van Blarenberghe miniatures (Richelieu, room 623). We see the Duc in his role as Louis XV’s minister of war at the Louvre and Versailles, working at his many desks cluttered with dossiers, showing visitors the prodigious collection of paintings that he would soon have to part with, as he fell into disgrace. Most of the works have been identified today. The Grande Galerie, then known as the Galerie du Bord de l’Eau, held the impressive collection of relief-maps of fortified cities, first commissioned under Louis XIV. One of the sides of the snuffbox shows the Duc examining these maps, as much for their beauty as for their strategic value. This miniature painting recalls his refined aesthetic taste as well his military responsibilities. I would dream of owning this snuffbox, but what a delight to see it become a part of the Louvre.