Born into a high-ranking family that had held prestigious positions in the state bureaucracy since the reign of Louis XIV, he was given his first official nomination in 1751, when his father asked Louis XV to assign him the post of collector general of taxes, left vacant up till then. Obtaining the position, he appointed someone as his proxy to handle the work it would have entailed and continued to lead a sumptuous life in the capital, devoting himself entirely to the fine arts. On the death of the father, in 1763, the king transferred all his benevolence to the son, who received a promotion within the financial administration and the ribbon of the order of St. Louis. His appointment as chief treasurer gave him one of the most important and envied posts in the whole state. In addition, left a substantial fortune by his father which he had consolidated through marriage (to the sister of the guard of the royal treasury), he lived with the magnificence of a great lord. Swept away by that love of the arts that was professed by the upper classes in the 18th century, he devoted himself to collecting. He made up for his own painful lack of talent by his lavish patronage. His acknowledged role as a patron of the arts earned him election as an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in 1754. His journey to Italy, the holy land of all art lovers, was a wholly natural thing for such a prominent member of that world of finance and the arts which had got into the habit of touring the country. His account initiates us into the manner in which these rich collectors traveled, shows us the welcome that the opulent French received abroad, introduces us into the salons of Rome and describes with irony all the details of the etiquette and pomp of an extremely refined conversation.