The eldest son of François Joseph de Choiseul, marquis de Stainville (1700–1770),[1] Étienne François was born in Nancy in the Duchy of Lorraine where his father was one of the leading advisors to the Duke of Lorraine who ruled an independent French-speaking state with close cultural and political links with France.

[1] Coming to power during the demoralization after the defeats of Rossbach and Krefeld, by boldness and energy he reformed and strengthened both army and navy, and, although too late to prevent the loss of Canada and India, he developed French colonies in the Antilles and San Domingo.

To counter this he hoped to depose or severely weaken the power of Catherine the Great by encouraging the Ottoman Empire to attack Russia.

[8] In an attempt to boost the Austrian alliance, Choiseul was an advocate of the marriage between the Dauphin, the future Louis XVI, and the archduchess Marie Antoinette, a daughter of the Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and the Emperor Francis I. Choiseul considered the marriage a personal triumph and believed it would cement his position of power.

As part of his long-term strategy to overturn what he perceived as British hegemony, Choiseul strongly supported Spain and mobilised the French military in preparation for war.

[9] At the height of the Falkland Crisis in 1770, Choiseul was dismissed and ordered to retire to his country estate, the Château de Chanteloup.

[citation needed] The intrigues against him had, however, increased his popularity, which was already great, and, during his retirement, which lasted until 1774, he lived in the greatest affluence and was visited by many eminent figures.

[1] He was succeeded as Chief Minister by Emmanuel-Armand de Richelieu, duc d'Aiguillon whose foreign policy was similar to that of Choiseul.

D'Aiguillon favoured a more absolute monarchy than Choiseul did, and was strongly connected to the faction grouped around Madame Du Barry.

[10] Choiseul enjoyed widespread popularity and many people came to bid him farewell, as a gesture of support, as he prepared to leave Paris for his Chanteloup estate.

[citation needed] In 1771, he participated in the unsuccessful attempt to arrange a secret marriage between the king and Albertine-Elisabeth Pater in order to depose Madame du Barry.

[1] English writer Horace Walpole, in his Memoirs, gives a vivid description of the duke's character, accuses him of having caused the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774), as a revenge on Tsarina Catherine II and says of his foreign policy: "he would project and determine the ruin of a country, but could not meditate a little mischief or a narrow benefit....

The items in his collection are known with some accuracy because of two important visual records: first, a snuffbox, often referred to as the 'Choiseul box', with five miniature paintings (1770–1771) by Louis-Nicolas van Blarenberghe, depicting the interior of his Paris residence, the Hôtel de Choiseul on the Rue de Richelieu; and second, a 1771 catalog of his collection with engravings created by Pierre-François Basan.

[14] Choiseul's collection of paintings mainly consisted of Dutch, Flemish, and French pictures, and included eight works by Rembrandt (for example, the Finding of Moses, Philadelphia Museum of Art), Jacob van Ruisdael's Shore at Egmond aan Zee (National Gallery, London), Gerard ter Borch's Woman Playing a Theorbo to Two Men (National Gallery, London), Philips Wouwerman's Stag Hunt (Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg), Claude Lorrain's Mercury and Io (National Gallery, Dublin), Louis Le Nain's Forge (Louvre, Paris), Jean-Baptiste Greuze's Girl with a Dog (Upton House, Warwickshire) and Sacrifice to Love (Wallace Collection, London), Joseph Vernet's Rock Arch (Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nîmes), Hubert Robert's Egyptian Palace by the Sea (Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dunkirk) and Joseph-Marie Vien's Greek Girl at the Bath (Museo de Arte, Ponce).

[15] Choiseul also owned a large number of engraved views of France (including works by Claude Chastillon, Israel Silvestre, Albert Flamen, and Reinier Nooms) and one of the most famous pieces of French furniture of the 18th century, a desk later owned by Talleyrand, Franz von Wolff-Metternich, and Edmond Adolphe de Rothschild, that has been attributed to the ébéniste Antoine Gaudreau and the bronze-chaser Jacques Caffieri.