Bringing statues to life: Cardinal Richelieu

1585-1642

Cardinal Armand Jean du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu, was Foreign Secretary of France and chief minister to Louis XIII. He was the original éminence rouge, named for his red robes, and was responsible for France’s dominance of the Thirty Years’ War.

During the French Revolution his body was removed from its tomb in the Sorbonne, and although his mummified face was stolen it was returned to the tomb by Napoleon III.