New for the 2009 season is a portrait of Etienne-François, duc de Choiseul, painted in 1785 by Adélheïde Labille-Guiard. Choiseul, a leading French statesman, diplomat, patron and collector and a confidante of Madame de Pompaour is depicted in his private sitting room in his Paris town house, informally dressed with papers strewn across his desk. A display of objects belonging to or associated with Choiseul has been assembled to mark the acquisition (see Exhibitions ).

Jean-Siméon Chardin's haunting Boy building a house of cards, painted in 1735

We are also delighted to welcome back last year's major acquisition, Jean-Siméon Chardin's haunting Boy building a house of cards, painted in 1735. The painting, which has been on loan to the Wallace Collection and the Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, Glasgow, makes a return to Waddesdon this season in the Stahremberg Corridor.