Given their size, these two portrait miniatures were most likely made to decorate the cover of a snuff-box. The château of Saint-Cloud was built in the 16th century by the Gondi family, a family of bankers from Florence. It was expanded by Philippe I, Duc d’Orléans, in the 17th century and further enlarged by Queen Marie Antoinette in the 1780s. It was occupied by Napoleon I and Napoleon III but eventually destroyed during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870.

The château d'Eu, was reconstructed in 1578 by Henri le Balafre, duc de Guise. In the eighteenth century it was the home of the ducs de Maine and subsequently d’Orléans. The château was seized during the Revolution and in 1814 it was restituted to the dowager duchesse d'Orleans, daughter of the duc de Penthièvre, mother of the future Louis-Philippe, who in 1821 started to restore and modify the château's facades.

We are indebted to Nathalie Lemoine-Bouchard for her opinion on the attribution of the present works.