The sitter was from 1768 to 1771 and 1774 to 1788 President of the Court of Paris and served in the notorious trial of the affair of Queen Marie Antoinette's necklace. In 1788 he resigned from office and the following year he narrowly escaped death by the mob. He immediately emigrated to Brussels, bringing with him some of his enormous wealth. He then went to London and finally to Brunswick where he died. In 1867 he was honoured by the city of Paris who named a street and a square after him.
The present miniature derives from a painting by Louis Michel van Loo (1707-1771), possibly the one sold Christie's, New York, 23 May 1997, lot 56 (dated 1763, identified there as the Marquis Armand Thomas Hue de Miromesnil). Another version of the miniature, signed with address 'M. Venloo fecit A.tin Dubourg pinxit. 1789. Roüen' and also set into the cover of a tortoiseshell box, formerly in the Panhard Collection, Paris, was sold Sotheby's, Geneva, 17 May 1984, lot 95.