The Friar with the snuffbox is a medium-sized canvas present in the collection of the Capuchin Museum since its opening.

Among the works of the Capuchin Museum this Friar with a snuffbox is a classic image of the long-bearded Capuchin friar, alone in his room, sitting on a wooden stool near a brazier, closed in his cloak. A representation that pushes us to search for the uses of the Capuchin life which, from the very beginning, was austere and simple and which allowed small concessions such as tobacco.

Our Capuchin friar, understood in his thoughts, has in fact between his fingers a pinch of tobacco that was considered to have therapeutic powers and therefore, in measured doses, could be consumed. It is a small painting that could fit into a larger group of works created by Teofilo Patini between the eighth and ninth decade of the nineteenth century, when he came into contact with certain Masonic circles that had also procured him ecclesiastical commissions. However, it seems that his interest in the environment of the convent and the figures of some Capuchin friars, is declined with a certain criticism of that world.

What is certain, however, is that Teofilo Patini expresses himself with the symbolist language of the end of the century to describe the realism of his works.