The Wallace Collection is a museum in London occupying Hertford House in
Manchester Square, the former
townhouse
A townhouse, townhome, town house, or town home, is a type of Terraced house, terraced housing. A modern townhouse is often one with a small footprint on multiple floors. In a different British usage, the term originally referred to any type o ...
of the Seymour family,
Marquesses of Hertford. It is named after
Sir Richard Wallace, who built the extensive collection, along with the Marquesses of Hertford, in the 18th and 19th centuries. The collection features
fine
Fine may refer to:
Characters
* Fran Fine, the title character of ''The Nanny''
* Sylvia Fine (''The Nanny''), Fran's mother on ''The Nanny''
* Officer Fine, a character in ''Tales from the Crypt'', played by Vincent Spano
Legal terms
* Fine (p ...
and
decorative art
]
The decorative arts are arts or crafts whose aim is the design and manufacture of objects that are both Beauty, beautiful and functional. This includes most of the objects for the interiors of buildings, as well as interior design, but typical ...
s from the 15th to the 19th centuries with important holdings of French 18th-century paintings, furniture, arms and armour,
porcelain
Porcelain (), also called china, is a ceramic material made by heating Industrial mineral, raw materials, generally including kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The greater strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to oth ...
and
paintings arranged into 25 galleries. It is open to the public and entry is free.
It was established in 1897 from the private collection mainly created by
Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford (1800–1870), who left both it and the house to his illegitimate son Sir Richard Wallace (1818–1890),
whose widow
Julie Amelie Charlotte Castelnau bequeathed the entire collection to the nation. The collection opened to permanent public view in 1900 in Hertford House, and remains there to this day. A condition of the bequest was that no object should ever leave the collection, even for loan exhibitions. However in September 2019, the board of trustees announced that they had obtained an order from the
Charity Commission for England & Wales which allowed them to enter into temporary loan agreements for the first time.
The United Kingdom is particularly rich in the works of the ''
ancien régime
''Ancien'' may refer to
* the French word for " ancient, old"
** Société des anciens textes français
* the French for "former, senior"
** Virelai ancien
** Ancien Régime
** Ancien Régime in France
{{disambig ...
'', purchased by wealthy families during the
revolutionary sales, held in France after the end of the
French Revolution. The Wallace Collection,
Waddesdon Manor
Waddesdon Manor is a English country house, country house in the village of Waddesdon, in Buckinghamshire, England. Owned by the National Trust and managed by the Rothschild Foundation, it is one of the National Trust's most visited properties, ...
and the
Royal Collection
The Royal Collection of the British royal family is the largest private art collection in the world.
Spread among 13 occupied and historic List of British royal residences, royal residences in the United Kingdom, the collection is owned by King ...
, all three located in the United Kingdom, are some of the largest, most important collections of French 18th-century decorative arts in the world, rivalled only by the
Musée du Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...
,
Château de Versailles and
Mobilier National in France. The Wallace Collection is a
non-departmental public body
In the United Kingdom, non-departmental public body (NDPB) is a classification applied by the Cabinet Office, Treasury, the Scottish Government, and the Northern Ireland Executive to public sector organisations that have a role in the process o ...
and the current director is Xavier Bray.
History
The Wallace Collection is a museum which displays works of art collected in the 18th and 19th centuries by five generations of a British aristocratic family – the first four
Marquesses of Hertford and
Sir Richard Wallace, the illegitimate son of the
4th Marquess. In the 19th century, the Marquesses of Hertford were one of the wealthiest families in Europe. They owned large properties in England, Wales and Ireland, and increased their wealth through successful marriages. Politically of lesser importance, the 3rd and 4th Marquess and Sir Richard Wallace became leading art collectors of their time.
The Wallace Collection, comprising about 5,500 works of art, was bequeathed to the British nation by Lady Wallace in 1897. The state then decided to buy Hertford House to display the collection and it was opened as a museum in 1900. As a museum the Wallace Collection's main strength is
18th-century French art: paintings, furniture, porcelain, sculpture and gold snuffboxes and 16th- to 19th-century paintings by such as
Titian
Tiziano Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), Latinized as Titianus, hence known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian Renaissance painter, the most important artist of Renaissance Venetian painting. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno.
Ti ...
,
Van Dyck
Sir Anthony van Dyck (; ; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Spanish Netherlands and Italy.
The seventh child of Frans van Dyck, a wealt ...
,
Rembrandt
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...
,
Hals,
Velázquez,
Gainsborough and
Delacroix, a collection of arms and armour and medieval and Renaissance objects including
Limoges enamel
Limoges enamel has been produced at Limoges, in south-western France, over several centuries up to the present. There are two periods when it was of European importance. From the 12th century to 1370 there was a large industry producing metal o ...
s,
maiolica
Maiolica is tin-glazed pottery decorated in colours on a white background. The most renowned Italian maiolica is from the Renaissance period. These works were known as ''istoriato'' wares ("painted with stories") when depicting historical and ...
, glass and bronzes. Paintings, furniture and porcelain are displayed together in the manner of private collections of the 19th century.
Building
Hertford House, Cannon Row
The 16th- and 17th-century Hertford House was the
London townhouse of
Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford
Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford, 1st Baron Beauchamp, KG (22 May 1539 – 6 April 1621), of Wulfhall and Totnam Lodge in Great Bedwyn, Wiltshire, of Hatch Beauchamp in Somerset, of Netley Abbey, Hampshire, and of Hertford House, Ca ...
(1539–1621) and was in a different location:
Cannon Row in Westminster. His father
Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset
Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, 1st Earl of Hertford, 1st Viscount Beauchamp (150022 January 1552) was an English nobleman and politician who served as Lord Protector of England from 1547 to 1549 during the minority of his nephew King E ...
(executed 1552), brother of Queen
Jane Seymour
Jane Seymour (; 24 October 1537) was Queen of England as the third wife of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 30 May 1536 until her death the next year. She became queen following the execution of Henry's second wife, Anne Boleyn, who was ...
, had started building the palatial
Somerset House
Somerset House is a large neoclassical architecture, neoclassical building complex situated on the south side of the Strand, London, Strand in central London, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The Georgian era quadran ...
on the
Strand as his townhouse, but did not live to see its completion.
Hertford House, Manchester Square
The present House in Manchester Square was the townhouse of a later junior branch of the family. It was built in 1776 by
George Montagu, 4th Duke of Manchester who owned and developed the surrounding estate. It dominates the north side of the Square, where it occupies an island site, and was originally named "Manchester House". After being used as the Spanish Embassy 1791–1795 (evidenced by "Spanish Place" the street to the east of the building) the lease was acquired in 1797 by
Francis Ingram-Seymour-Conway, 2nd Marquess of Hertford (1743–1822), who in 1814 held there the Allied Sovereigns' Ball after the first defeat of Napoleon in 1814.
Francis Seymour-Conway, 3rd Marquess of Hertford (1777–1842), the family's first great art collector, lived mainly at his other London residences,
Dorchester House in Mayfair and
St Dunstan’s Villa in Regents Park, now the site of the residence of the US Ambassador. Between 1836-51 Hertford House was let for use as the French Embassy. His son
Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford (1800–1870), who expanded his father's art collection, lived most of his life in Paris, and rarely visited Hertford House, used "largely as a store for his ever-expanding art collection". He is said never to have visited his principal English country seat of
Ragley Hall in Warwickshire. The 4th Marquess died in 1870, aged 70 in Paris, unmarried and without legitimate issue, and his titles and entailed estates, including the lease of Hertford House, passed to his distant cousin
Francis Seymour, 5th Marquess of Hertford (1812–1884).
The 4th Marquess's illegitimate son and heir of his unentailed estate,
Sir Richard Wallace, 1st Baronet (1818–1890), inherited his art collection, French and Irish estates, and re-purchased Sudbourne Hall in Suffolk and, in 1871, the lease of Hertford House from the 5th Marquess, and returned from Paris with much of the art collection to take up residence in England, following the unstable political climate in France following the Prussian
Siege of Paris (1870–1871). Wallace in turn expanded the art collection, adding medieval and Renaissance objects and European arms and armour.
Between 1872–1882 the house was much altered by Sir Richard Wallace, who added a rear extension to house his art collection with a smoking room lined with Minton tiles in Turkish style. Under the architect Thomas Ambler a new front portico was added in the form of a
porte-cochère, with large Doric pilasters, storeys were added to both wings and the stables and coach house were converted to galleries by the addition of top-lit roofs. The whole building was given a red brick facade and the windows were altered. Wallace bequeathed all his assets to his wife, who in turn, and most probably according to his wishes, bequeathed the main part of her husband's art collection to the nation, thus forming the "Wallace Collection", the rest, including the French properties and Hertford House, going to the couple's secretary
Sir John Murray Scott, 1st Baronet. Scott sold the lease of Hertford House to the UK Government, as a suitable home for the Wallace Collection, after which he was rewarded with a baronetcy, and the Government acquired the freehold from the
Portman Estate Portman may refer to:
* Portman (surname)
* Viscount Portman
Places
* Portmán, a town near Cartagena, Spain
* Orchard Portman, a village and civil parish in Somerset, England
* Portman Estate, 110 acres in Marylebone in London’s West End
* Por ...
. Hertford House first opened as a museum on 22 June 1900.
In 2000, the inner courtyard was given a glass roof and a restaurant was opened named "Cafe Bagatelle" after the
Château de Bagatelle in Paris purchased in 1835 by
Francis Seymour-Conway, 3rd Marquess of Hertford, later part of Scott's inheritance. The museum display does not aim to reconstruct the state of the house when Sir Richard and Lady Wallace lived here.
Interior
Ground Floor
Hall
The Entrance Hall contains marble busts of the three principal founders of the Wallace Collection: Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford (1800–1870), his son, Sir Richard Wallace (1818–1890) and in the lobby, Lady Wallace, who bequeathed the contents of Hertford House to the British nation on her death in 1897. The room has retained the aspect it had in Sir Richard Wallace's day more than any other room in the building.
Front State Room
''Displays: Portraits and Porcelain''

This room reveals the opulence of the London town house in the 1870s and sets the scene for visitors to the Wallace Collection. The State Rooms were the grandest rooms in the house, in which the most important visitors were received. When it was the home of Sir Richard and Lady Wallace, visitors to Hertford House first entered the Front State Room, then, as now, hung with portraits. Two items of the modern furniture seen in the room in 1890 were not part of the collection gifted by Lady Wallace and are no longer present, but the mounted
porcelain
Porcelain (), also called china, is a ceramic material made by heating Industrial mineral, raw materials, generally including kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The greater strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to oth ...
displayed on the cabinets and the
chandelier
A chandelier () is an ornamental lighting device, typically with spreading branched supports for multiple lights, designed to be hung from the ceiling. Chandeliers are often ornate, and they were originally designed to hold candles, but now inca ...
, made by
Jean-Jacques Caffiéri in 1571, have been returned to the room.
Back State Room
''Displays: The Rococo at the time of Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour''
The Back State Room is today dedicated to the patronage of King Louis XV (1715–1774) and his mistress, Madame de Pompadour. It displays some of the prominent examples in the Wallace Collection of art in the
rococo
Rococo, less commonly Roccoco ( , ; or ), also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpte ...
style. Sir Richard Wallace used the Back State Room to entertain guests at Hertford House. During his lifetime it had wooden boiserie panelling on the wall; the great chandelier, by
Jacques Caffiéri, dating from 1751, remains in the room.
Dining Room

''Displays: Eighteenth-century still lifes and portraits''
The room contains masterworks of French 18th-century portraiture by
Nattier and
Houdon and two oil sketches by
Jean François de Troy, for decoration of Louis XV's dining room in Fontainebleau, shown to the king for approval.
Billiard Room

''Displays: The Decorative Arts under Louis XIV''
Breakfast Room
''Visitor Reception and Cloakroom''
This room was formerly Sir Richard and Lady Wallace's breakfast room. In 1890, it contained a large cabinet filled with Sèvres porcelain dinner wares, probably more for use than decoration, and sixteen Dutch pictures. The French chimneypiece in this room was made in the mid-18th century and installed in this room when the house was modified for Sir Richard and Lady Wallace.
Housekeeper's Room
''Wallace Collection Shop''
This room was occupied during Sir Richard and Lady Wallace's lifetime by the family's housekeeper. Lady Wallace's housekeeper was Mrs Jane Buckley, a Londoner by birth. There were over thirty servants, including housemaids, kitchen maids, a lady's maid, a butler, footmen, a valet, coachmen, a groom and stable lads.
Oriental Armoury

''Displays: East European, Turkish and Indo-Persian Arms, Armour and Works of Arts''
The Oriental arms and armour in the Wallace Collection were largely collected by the 4th Marquess of Hertford in the 1860s, the last decade of his life. Like many of his contemporaries, Sir Richard Wallace used this material to bring Oriental exoticism, as it was then considered, into his fashionable London house. The Oriental Armoury was displayed on the first floor of Hertford House. Trophies of arms and armour from India, the Middle East, the lands of the old Ottoman Empire, and the Far East, patterned the walls of the Oriental Armoury, whilst the ceiling was decorated with a pattern of gold stars on a deep blue background.
European Armoury I

''Displays: Medieval and Renaissance Arms and Armour (tenth to sixteenth centuries)''
Sir Richard Wallace acquired most of his European armour in 1871, when he bought the collections of the comte Alfred Emilien de Nieuwekerke, Minister of Fine Arts to Napoleon III and director of the Louvre, as well as the finest parts of the collection of
Sir Samuel Rush Meyrick, a pioneering collector and scholar of arms and armour. The arms and armour collections are today recognised as among the finest in the world. During Sir Richard Wallace's lifetime, this room formed part of the stables with the grooms' bedrooms on a mezzanine floor. Sir Richard's European arms and armour were displayed in one large gallery, today's West Gallery III, on the first floor, directly above European Armoury I.
European Armoury II
''Displays: Renaissance Arms and Armour (fifteenth to seventeenth centuries)''
The Wallace Collection contains some of the most spectacular Renaissance arms and armour in Britain. All of the richest and most powerful noblemen of the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries commissioned beautifully decorated weapons and armour, not just for war, but also for use in the awe-inspiring jousts, tournaments and festivals of the time. Fine arms and armour were considered works of art as much as warlike equipment. Displayed in this gallery are some of the finest examples of the armourer's art, exquisite sculptures richly embellished with gold and silver. This space was formerly part of Sir Richard Wallace's stables.
European Armoury III
''Displays: Later Arms and Armour (sixteenth to nineteenth centuries)''
The array of sporting guns, rifles and pistols in this room includes a large number of extravagantly decorated 16th- and early-17th-century wheel-lock firearms, together with an impressive group of magnificent civilian flint-lock guns of the Napoleonic era. Several of the weapons here were made for European rulers, including Louis XIII and Louis XIV of France and Tsar Nicholas I of Russia. It is a major collection of early firearms in the United Kingdom. This space was formerly part of Sir Richard Wallace's coach house and stable yard.
Sixteenth-Century Gallery
''Displays: The Collector's Cabinet''
The Sixteenth-Century Gallery houses works of art from the Medieval and Renaissance periods and a group of important Renaissance paintings. This part of the Wallace Collection was mainly assembled by Sir Richard who, like many 19th-century collectors, was fascinated by the art and history of Europe during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. The Sixteenth-Century Gallery comprised two smaller rooms during Sir Richard and Lady Wallace's lifetime. The contemporary photograph shows how one room was arranged by Sir Richard as a cabinet of curiosities, with paintings and maiolica densely hung on the walls and smaller works of art kept in cases or inside Renaissance cabinets. The other room, known as the Canaletto Room, was used to display the collection of paintings by Canaletto.
Smoking Room
''Displays: Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque Works of Art''
The Smoking Room exhibits paintings and works of art from the Medieval and Renaissance periods, including the greater part of Sir Richard Wallace's collection of Italian Renaissance maiolica. Sir Richard Wallace would have invited his male guests to the Smoking Room after dinner, to discuss affairs of the day over an enjoyable pipe or cigar. The room had oriental interiors, with walls lined with Turkish-style tiles made by the
Minton factory in Stoke-on-Trent, the floor laid with a patterned mosaic. A small section of this interior survives in the alcove at the north end of the room. This was not only a highly fashionable look for a late Victorian smoking room but also practical, ensuring the smell of smoke did not linger in any fabric furnishings.
First Floor
Landing
The Landing serves as the main orientation point on the first floor. It is hung with mythological and pastoral paintings by Boucher and is also perhaps the best place to admire the wrought iron work of the staircase balustrade, made in 1719 for the Royal bank in Paris. Hertford House was built in 1776–78 for the 4th Duke of Manchester. After a brief spell as the Spanish Embassy, it was bought by the 2nd Marquess of Hertford in 1797. He added the conservatory, in place of a Venetian window on the Landing and two first-floor rooms on each wing.
Great Gallery

''Displays: Old Masters''
Large Drawing Room

''Displays: French furniture.''
Contains some of the most spectacular works by the French furniture-maker,
Andre-Charles Boulle
Small Drawing Room
East Drawing Room
Oval Drawing Room

''Displays: French furniture and paintings by
François Boucher
François Boucher ( , ; ; 29 September 1703 – 30 May 1770) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher, who worked in the Rococo style. Boucher is known for his idyllic and voluptuous paintings on classical themes, decorative allegories ...
''
Lower Ground Floor
Porphyry Court
The Porphyry Court was little more than a rather dismal back yard until 2000, when it was transformed by being doubled in size and provided with a dramatic pair of flights of stairs.
Collections
The Collection numbers nearly 5,500 objects, a range of fine and decorative arts from the 15th to the 19th centuries. The collection is known for its 18th-century French paintings,
Sèvres
Sèvres (, ) is a French Communes of France, commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris. It is located from the Kilometre zero, centre of Paris, in the Hauts-de-Seine department of the Île-de-France region. The commune, which had a populatio ...
porcelain and French furniture but also displays other objects, such as arms and armour featuring both European and Oriental objects, as well as displays of gold boxes, miniatures, sculpture and
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...
and
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
works of art such as
maiolica
Maiolica is tin-glazed pottery decorated in colours on a white background. The most renowned Italian maiolica is from the Renaissance period. These works were known as ''istoriato'' wares ("painted with stories") when depicting historical and ...
, glass, bronzes and
Limoges enamels.
The works of art in the Collection comprise:
:*Paintings, watercolours and drawings 775
:*Furniture 528
:*Ceramics 510
:*European and Oriental arms and armour 2,370
:*Sculpture 466
:*Miniatures 334
:*Medieval and Renaissance works of art 363
:*Goldsmiths' work 120
File:Wallace Collection Sèvres porcelain.jpg, Part of the Wallace Collection's great ensemblage of Sèvres porcelain
File:Wallace Collection first floor drawing room.jpg, Front State Room – Redecorated in the mid-1990s to appear as though it would have in the late 19th century
File:The Great Gallery In the Wallace Collection, London in July 2012.jpg, The Great Gallery in 2012, featuring Rubens' ''Landscape With A Rainbow'', portraits by Van Dyck, and other important works
Departments
The Wallace Collection is split into six curatorial departments: Pictures and Miniatures; Ceramics and Glass; Sculpture and Works of Art; Arms and Armour; Sèvres porcelain; and Gold Boxes and Furniture.
Pictures and miniatures

The Wallace Collection's Old Master paintings are some of the most prominent in the world, and date from the 14th to the mid-19th centuries. The highlights include
Dutch and
Flemish paintings of the 17th century, 18th- and 19th-century French paintings, and works by English, Italian and Spanish artists. Strengths of the collection include 5 Rembrandts (and school), 9 Rubens's, 4 Van Dycks, 8 Canalettos, 9 Guardis, 19 François Bouchers,
Fragonard, 9 Murillos, 9 Teniers, 2 Titians,
Poussin
Nicolas Poussin (, , ; June 1594 – 19 November 1665) was a French painter who was a leading painter of the Classicism, classical French Baroque style, although he spent most of his working life in Rome. Most of his works were on religious and ...
, 3 Velázquezs and 8 Watteaus. The inventory of pictures, watercolours and drawings comprises all the major European schools.
Paintings, drawing and watercolours in the collection
# British, German, Spanish, and Italian – 151 paintings, 60 drawings
# French (19th century) – 134 paintings, 57 watercolours
# French (before 1815) – 144 paintings, 8 drawings and watercolours
# Dutch – 173 paintings, 2 drawings
[''The Wallace Collection: Catalogue of Pictures IV'']
# Flemish – 8 paintings
''Dutch School:''
*
Ferdinand Bol – 1 painting
*
Gerard ter Borch – 2 paintings
*
Aelbert Cuyp – 5 paintings
*
Gerrit Dou
Gerrit Dou (; 7 April 1613 – 9 February 1675), also known as Gerard Douw or Dow, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, whose small, highly polished paintings are typical of the Leiden fijnschilders. He specialised in genre scenes and is noted for h ...
– 1 painting
*
Frans Hals
Frans Hals the Elder (, ; ; – 26 August 1666) was a Dutch Golden Age painter. He lived and worked in Haarlem, a city in which the local authority of the day frowned on religious painting in places of worship but citizens liked to decorate thei ...
– 1 painting
*
Bartholomeus van der Helst
Bartholomeus van der Helst (1613 – buried 16 December 1670) was a Dutch painter. Considered to be one of the leading portrait painters of the Dutch Golden Age, his elegant portraits gained him the patronage of Amsterdam's elite as well as th ...
– 1 painting
*
Meyndert Hobbema – 5 paintings
*
Melchior d'Hondecoeter – 3 paintings
*
Pieter de Hooch – 2 paintings including ''
A Boy Bringing Bread'' and ''
A Woman Peeling Apples''
*
Gabriel Metsu – 5 paintings
*
Adriaen van Ostade – 2 paintings
*
Isack van Ostade
Isaac van Ostade (bapt. June 2, 1621 – buried October 16, 1649) was a Dutch Republic, Dutch Genre works, genre and Landscape art, landscape painter.
Biography
Van Ostade was born in Haarlem. He began his studies under his brother, Adriaen v ...
– 2 paintings
*
Rembrandt
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...
– 5 paintings
*
Jacob Isaakszoon van Ruisdael – 4 paintings
*
Frans Snyders – 1 painting
*
Jan Steen
Jan Havickszoon Steen ( – buried 3 February 1679) was a Dutch Golden Age painter, one of the leading genre painters of the 17th century. His works are known for their psychological insight, sense of humour and abundance of colour.
Life
...
– 5 paintings
*
Adriaen van de Velde – 2 paintings
*
Willem van de Velde the Younger – 8 paintings
*
Jan Weenix – 13 paintings
:
Philips Wouwerman – 6 paintings
File:Aelbert Cuyp Avenue at Meerdervoort.jpg, Aelbert Cuyp – ''The Avenue at Meerdervoort'', 1650–1652
File:Cavalier soldier Hals-1624x.jpg, Frans Hals
Frans Hals the Elder (, ; ; – 26 August 1666) was a Dutch Golden Age painter. He lived and worked in Haarlem, a city in which the local authority of the day frowned on religious painting in places of worship but citizens liked to decorate thei ...
– '' The Laughing Cavalier'', 1624
File:Jan Davidsz de Heem 004.jpg, Jan Davidsz de Heem – ''Still life with Lobster'', 1643
File:Nicolaes Maes - The Listening Housewife - Wallace.jpg, Nicolaes Maes
Nicolaes Maes (January 1634December 1693 (buried 24 December 1693)) was a Dutch Republic, Dutch painter known for his Genre painting, genre scenes, Portrait painting, portraits, religious compositions and the occasional still life. A pupil of Re ...
– '' The Listening Housewife'', 1656
File:Rembrandt - The Artist's Son Titus - WGA19171.jpg, Rembrandt
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...
– ''The Artist's Son Titus'', c. 1657
File:Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn 033.jpg, Rembrandt
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...
– ''The Good Samaritan'', 1630
''English School''
:*
Richard Parkes Bonington
Richard Parkes Bonington (25 October 1802 – 23 September 1828) was an English Romantic landscape painter. He moved to France at the age of 14 and can also be considered as a French artist, and an intermediary bringing aspects of English styl ...
– 35 paintings
:*
Thomas Gainsborough
Thomas Gainsborough (; 14 May 1727 (baptised) – 2 August 1788) was an English portrait and landscape painter, draughtsman, and printmaker. Along with his rival Sir Joshua Reynolds, he is considered one of the most important British artists o ...
– 2 paintings
:*
John Hoppner
John Hoppner (4 April 175823 January 1810) was an English portrait painter, much influenced by Joshua Reynolds, who achieved fame as a colourist.
Early life
Hoppner was born in Whitechapel, London, the son of German parents – his mother w ...
– 1 painting
:*
Sir Edwin Landseer – 4 paintings
:*
Thomas Lawrence
Sir Thomas Lawrence (13 April 1769 – 7 January 1830) was an English people, English portrait painter and the fourth president of the Royal Academy. A child prodigy, he was born in Bristol and began drawing in Devizes, where his father was a ...
– 5 paintings
:*
Joshua Reynolds
Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter who specialised in portraits. The art critic John Russell (art critic), John Russell called him one of the major European painters of the 18th century, while Lucy P ...
– 12 paintings
:*
J. M. W. Turner – 4 paintings
File:Richard Parkes Bonington - On the Coast of Picardy - WGA02430.jpg, Richard Parkes Bonington
Richard Parkes Bonington (25 October 1802 – 23 September 1828) was an English Romantic landscape painter. He moved to France at the age of 14 and can also be considered as a French artist, and an intermediary bringing aspects of English styl ...
- On the Coast of Picardy
File:Thomas Gainsborough - Mrs. Mary Robinson ("Perdita") - WGA08417.jpg, Thomas Gainsborough
Thomas Gainsborough (; 14 May 1727 (baptised) – 2 August 1788) was an English portrait and landscape painter, draughtsman, and printmaker. Along with his rival Sir Joshua Reynolds, he is considered one of the most important British artists o ...
– '' Mrs Mary Robinson (Perdita)'', c. 1781
File:Edwin Landseer - The Arab Tent - WGA12440.jpg, Edwin Landseer – The Arab Tent, 1866
File:The Wallace Collection (39544232701).jpg, Thomas Lawrence
Sir Thomas Lawrence (13 April 1769 – 7 January 1830) was an English people, English portrait painter and the fourth president of the Royal Academy. A child prodigy, he was born in Bristol and began drawing in Devizes, where his father was a ...
– '' Portrait of the Countess of Blessington'', 1822
File:Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792) - Miss Jane Bowles - P36 - The Wallace Collection.jpg, Joshua Reynolds
Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter who specialised in portraits. The art critic John Russell (art critic), John Russell called him one of the major European painters of the 18th century, while Lucy P ...
- Miss Jane Bowles
File:J.M.W. Turner - Scarborough town and castle- morning- boys catching crabs - Google Art Project.jpg, J.M.W. Turner - Scarborough town and castle- morning- boys catching crabs
''Flemish School''
:*
Hans Memling
Hans Memling (also spelled Memlinc; – 11 August 1494) was a German-Flemish people, Flemish painter who worked in the tradition of Early Netherlandish painting. Born in the Middle Rhine region, he probably spent his childhood in Mainz. During ...
– 1 painting
:*
Pieter Pourbus
Pieter Jansz. Pourbus (c. 1523–1584) was a Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, Flemish Renaissance painter, draftsman, engineer and cartographer who was active in Bruges during the 16th century. He is known primarily for his religious and p ...
– 1 painting
:*
Pourbus the Elder, Frans – 1 painting
:*
Peter Paul Rubens
Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish painting, Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque painting, Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens' highly charged comp ...
– 9 paintings
:*
David Teniers the Younger – 9 paintings
:*
Anthony van Dyck
Sir Anthony van Dyck (; ; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Flemish Baroque painting, Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Spanish Netherlands and Italy.
The seventh child of ...
– 4 paintings
File:Adriaen Brouwer - A Boor Asleep.jpg, Adriaen Brouwer – ''Sleeping peasant'', 1630–1638
File:Anthony van Dyck - Portrait of Philippe Le Roy.jpg, Anthony van Dyck
Sir Anthony van Dyck (; ; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Flemish Baroque painting, Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Spanish Netherlands and Italy.
The seventh child of ...
– ''Portrait of Philippe Le Roy'', 1630
File:Anthony van Dyck - Self-portrait as Paris, c. 1628.jpg, Anthony van Dyck
Sir Anthony van Dyck (; ; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Flemish Baroque painting, Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Spanish Netherlands and Italy.
The seventh child of ...
– '' The Shepherd Paris'', c. 1628
File:Jacob Jordaens, An Allegory of Fruitfulness, 1620-29.jpg, – ''An Allegory of Fruitfulness'', 1620–1629
File:Peter Paul Rubens - Christ's Charge to Peter.jpg, Peter Paul Rubens
Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish painting, Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque painting, Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens' highly charged comp ...
– ''Christ's Charge to Peter'', c. 1616
File:Peter Paul Rubens - Landscape with a Rainbow - WGA20411.jpg, Peter Paul Rubens
Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish painting, Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque painting, Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens' highly charged comp ...
– ''Landscape with a Rainbow'', c. 1638
''French School:''
*
François Boucher
François Boucher ( , ; ; 29 September 1703 – 30 May 1770) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher, who worked in the Rococo style. Boucher is known for his idyllic and voluptuous paintings on classical themes, decorative allegories ...
– 17 paintings (one of the largest holdings of his works in the world)
*
Philippe de Champaigne
Philippe de Champaigne (; 26 May 1602 – 12 August 1674) was a Duchy of Brabant, Brabant-born French people, French Baroque era painter, a major exponent of the French art, French school. He was a founding member of the Académie royale de pein ...
– 4 paintings
*
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot ( , , ; 16 July 1796 – 22 February 1875), or simply Camille Corot, was a French Landscape art, landscape and Portraitist, portrait painter as well as a printmaking, printmaker in etching. A pivotal figure in ...
– 1 painting
*
Eugène Delacroix
Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix ( ; ; 26 April 1798 – 13 August 1863) was a French people, French Romanticism, Romantic artist who was regarded as the leader of the French Romantic school.Noon, Patrick, et al., ''Crossing the Channel: ...
– 2 paintings including ''
The Execution of the Doge Marino Faliero''
*
Hippolyte Delaroche – 12 paintings
*
Gaspard Dughet – 1 painting
*
Jean-Honoré Fragonard
Jean-Honoré Fragonard (; 5 April 1732
(birth/baptism certificate)
– 22 August 1806) was a French painter and printmaker whose late Rococo manner was distinguished by remarkable facility, exuberance, and hedonism. One of the most prolific art ...
– 8 paintings including his masterpiece,
The Swing
*
Théodore Géricault
Jean-Louis André Théodore Géricault (; 26 September 1791 – 26 January 1824) was a French painter and lithographer, whose best-known painting is '' The Raft of the Medusa''. Despite his short life, he was one of the pioneers of the Romanti ...
– 2 paintings
*
Jean-Baptiste Greuze
Jean-Baptiste Greuze (, 21 August 1725 – 4 March 1805) was a French painter of portraits, genre scenes, and history painting.
Early life
Greuze was born at Tournus, a market town in Burgundy. He is generally said to have formed his own ...
– 19 paintings
*
Nicolas Lancret
Nicolas Lancret (; 22 January 1690 – 14 September 1743) was a List of French artists, French painter. Born in Paris, he was a brilliant depicter of light comedy which reflected the tastes and manners of French society during the Régence, regen ...
– 11 paintings
*
François Lemoyne
François Lemoyne or François Le Moine (; 1688 – 4 June 1737) was a French rococo painter. He was a winner of the Prix de Rome, professor of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, and '' Premier peintre du Roi'' to Louis XV. He wa ...
– 2 paintings
*
Claude Lorrain
Claude Lorrain (; born Claude Gellée , called ''le Lorrain'' in French; traditionally just Claude in English; c. 1600 – 23 November 1682) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher of the Baroque era. He spent most of his life in I ...
– 1 painting
*
Jean-Marc Nattier
Jean-Marc Nattier (; 17 March 1685 – 7 November 1766) was a French Painting, painter. He was born in Paris, the second son of Marc Nattier (1642–1705), a portrait painter, and of Marie Courtois (1655–1703), a miniaturist. He is noted for hi ...
– 3 paintings
*
Jean-Baptiste Oudry
Jean-Baptiste Oudry (; 17 March 1686 – 30 April 1755) was a French Rococo painter, engraver, and tapestry designer. He is particularly well known for his naturalistic pictures of animals and his hunt pieces depicting game. His son, Jacques-Cha ...
– 7 paintings
*
Jean-Baptiste Pater – 13 paintings
*
Nicolas Poussin
Nicolas Poussin (, , ; June 1594 – 19 November 1665) was a French painter who was a leading painter of the classical French Baroque style, although he spent most of his working life in Rome. Most of his works were on religious and mythologic ...
– 1 painting
*
Jean-François de Troy – 2 paintings
*
Claude-Joseph Vernet – 2 paintings
*
Horace Vernet
Émile Jean-Horace Vernet (; 30 June 178917 January 1863) more commonly known as simply Horace Vernet, was a French painter of battles, portraits, and Orientalist subjects.
Biography
Early career
Vernet was born to Carle Vernet, another famo ...
– 30 paintings
*
Jean-Antoine Watteau
Jean-Antoine Watteau (, , ; baptised 10 October 1684died 18 July 1721) Alsavailablevia Oxford Art Online (subscription needed). was a French Painting, painter and Drawing, draughtsman whose brief career spurred the revival of interest in colour ...
– 8 paintings (the 3rd largest holdings in the world)
File:François Boucher 017.jpg, François Boucher
François Boucher ( , ; ; 29 September 1703 – 30 May 1770) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher, who worked in the Rococo style. Boucher is known for his idyllic and voluptuous paintings on classical themes, decorative allegories ...
– ''Madame de Pompadour
Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour (, ; 29 December 1721 – 15 April 1764), commonly known as Madame de Pompadour, was a member of the French court. She was the official chief mistress of King Louis XV from 1745 to 1751, and rema ...
'', 1759
File:BoucherFrancois MarsEtVenus.jpg, François Boucher
François Boucher ( , ; ; 29 September 1703 – 30 May 1770) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher, who worked in the Rococo style. Boucher is known for his idyllic and voluptuous paintings on classical themes, decorative allegories ...
– ''Mars and Venus''
File:Francois Boucher lever du soleil wallace collection.jpg, François Boucher
François Boucher ( , ; ; 29 September 1703 – 30 May 1770) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher, who worked in the Rococo style. Boucher is known for his idyllic and voluptuous paintings on classical themes, decorative allegories ...
– ''The Rising of the Sun
''The Rising of the Sun'' is a 1752 oil-on-canvas painting by the French artist François Boucher. It and its pair '' The Setting of the Sun'' were both private commissions for Madame de Pompadour as full-scale models for the Gobelins Manufacto ...
'', 1753
File:Fragonard musical.jpg, Jean-Honoré Fragonard
Jean-Honoré Fragonard (; 5 April 1732
(birth/baptism certificate)
– 22 August 1806) was a French painter and printmaker whose late Rococo manner was distinguished by remarkable facility, exuberance, and hedonism. One of the most prolific art ...
– ''The Musical Contest'', 1754–55
File:Fragonard, The Swing.jpg, Jean-Honoré Fragonard
Jean-Honoré Fragonard (; 5 April 1732
(birth/baptism certificate)
– 22 August 1806) was a French painter and printmaker whose late Rococo manner was distinguished by remarkable facility, exuberance, and hedonism. One of the most prolific art ...
– '' The Swing'', 1767
File:Jean-Marc Nattier, The Comtesse de Tillières (1750; before retouching) - 02.jpg, Jean-Marc Nattier
Jean-Marc Nattier (; 17 March 1685 – 7 November 1766) was a French Painting, painter. He was born in Paris, the second son of Marc Nattier (1642–1705), a portrait painter, and of Marie Courtois (1655–1703), a miniaturist. He is noted for hi ...
– ''The Comtesse de Tillières'', 1750
File:Mademoiselle de Clermont en Sultane.jpg, Jean-Marc Nattier
Jean-Marc Nattier (; 17 March 1685 – 7 November 1766) was a French Painting, painter. He was born in Paris, the second son of Marc Nattier (1642–1705), a portrait painter, and of Marie Courtois (1655–1703), a miniaturist. He is noted for hi ...
– '' Mademoiselle de Clermont'' ''as a Sultana'', 1733
File:Jean-Baptiste Pater (1695-1736) - A Gallant Conversation - P458 - The Wallace Collection.jpg, Jean-Baptiste Pater - A Gallant Conversation, 1729
File:The dance to the music of time c. 1640.jpg, Nicolas Poussin
Nicolas Poussin (, , ; June 1594 – 19 November 1665) was a French painter who was a leading painter of the classical French Baroque style, although he spent most of his working life in Rome. Most of his works were on religious and mythologic ...
– ''A Dance to the Music of Time
''A Dance to the Music of Time'' is a 12-volume ''Book series#History, roman-fleuve'' by English writer Anthony Powell, published between 1951 and 1975 to critical acclaim. The story is an often comic examination of movements and manners, power ...
'', c. 1634–1636
File:The Dog of the Regiment Wounded.png, Horace Vernet
Émile Jean-Horace Vernet (; 30 June 178917 January 1863) more commonly known as simply Horace Vernet, was a French painter of battles, portraits, and Orientalist subjects.
Biography
Early career
Vernet was born to Carle Vernet, another famo ...
– '' The Dog of the Regiment Wounded'', (1819)
File:Antoine Watteau 059.jpg, Jean-Antoine Watteau
Jean-Antoine Watteau (, , ; baptised 10 October 1684died 18 July 1721) Alsavailablevia Oxford Art Online (subscription needed). was a French Painting, painter and Drawing, draughtsman whose brief career spurred the revival of interest in colour ...
– ''A Lady at her Toilet'', c. 1716–18)
File:Jean-Antoine Watteau, The Halt during the Chase (c. 1718–1720).jpg, Jean-Antoine Watteau
Jean-Antoine Watteau (, , ; baptised 10 October 1684died 18 July 1721) Alsavailablevia Oxford Art Online (subscription needed). was a French Painting, painter and Drawing, draughtsman whose brief career spurred the revival of interest in colour ...
– ''The Halt during the Chase'', c. 1718–1720
''Italian School''
*
Francesco Albani
Francesco Albani or Albano (17 March or 17 August 1578 – 4 October 1660) was an Italian Baroque painter of Albanian descent who was active in Bologna (1591–1600; 1609; 1610; 1618–1622), Rome (1600–1609; 1610–1617; 1623–1625), ...
– 1 painting
*
Canaletto
Giovanni Antonio Canal (18 October 1697 – 19 April 1768), commonly known as Canaletto (), was an Italian painter from the Republic of Venice, considered an important member of the 18th-century Venetian school.
Painter of cityscapes or ...
, (Giovanni Antonio Canal) – 8 paintings
*
Giovanni Battista Cima da Conegliano – 2 paintings
*
Carlo Crivelli – 1 painting
*
(Domenichino) – 1 painting
*
Francesco Guardi
Francesco Lazzaro Guardi (; 5 October 1712 – 1 January 1793) was an Italian painter, nobleman, and a member of the Venetian School (art), Venetian School. He is considered to be among the last practitioners, along with his brothers, of the clas ...
– 9 paintings
*
Bernardino Luini – 4 paintings
*
Salvator Rosa – 1 painting (one of the finest Rosas in existence)
*
Andrea del Sarto – 1 painting
*
Titian
Tiziano Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), Latinized as Titianus, hence known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian Renaissance painter, the most important artist of Renaissance Venetian painting. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno.
Ti ...
(Tiziano Vecelli) – 2 paintings including one of the six Poise's commissioned on Philip II of Spain
*
Sassoferrato – 3 paintings
File:Giovanni Antonio Canal, il Canaletto - Venice - The Bacino from the Giudecca - WGA03920.jpg, Canaletto
Giovanni Antonio Canal (18 October 1697 – 19 April 1768), commonly known as Canaletto (), was an Italian painter from the Republic of Venice, considered an important member of the 18th-century Venetian school.
Painter of cityscapes or ...
(Giovanni Antonio Canal) – ''The Bacino from the Giudecca, Venice'', c. 1740
File:Francesco Guardi - Venice - The Dogana with the Giudecca - WGA10870.jpg, Francesco Guardi
Francesco Lazzaro Guardi (; 5 October 1712 – 1 January 1793) was an Italian painter, nobleman, and a member of the Venetian School (art), Venetian School. He is considered to be among the last practitioners, along with his brothers, of the clas ...
– ''The Dogana with the Giudecca'', c. 1775
File:Perseo y Andrómeda, por Tiziano.jpg, Titian
Tiziano Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), Latinized as Titianus, hence known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian Renaissance painter, the most important artist of Renaissance Venetian painting. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno.
Ti ...
– '' Perseus and Andromeda'', c. 1554–1556
File:Salvator Rosa - River Landscape with Apollo and the Cumean Sibyl - WGA20057.jpg, Salvator Rosa –- River Landscape with Apollo and the Cumean Sibyl
''Spanish School''
:*
Alonso Cano – 1 painting
:*
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo – 9 paintings (one of the largest holdings of his works in the world)
:*
Diego Velázquez
Diego RodrÃguez de Silva y Velázquez (baptised 6 June 15996 August 1660) was a Spanish painter, the leading artist in the Noble court, court of King Philip IV of Spain, Philip IV of Spain and Portugal, and of the Spanish Golden Age. He i ...
– 2 paintings including ''Lady with a Fan'', one of the artist's greatest paintings
File:Bartolome murillo-desposorios virgen.jpg, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo – ''Marriage of the Virgin'', 1670
File:La dama del abanico, por Diego Velázquez.jpg, Diego Velázquez
Diego RodrÃguez de Silva y Velázquez (baptised 6 June 15996 August 1660) was a Spanish painter, the leading artist in the Noble court, court of King Philip IV of Spain, Philip IV of Spain and Portugal, and of the Spanish Golden Age. He i ...
– '' Lady with a Fan'', c. 1638–39
Ceramics
There are fine examples of porcelain on display, including
Meissen porcelain
Meissen porcelain or Meissen china was the first Europe, European hard-paste porcelain. Early experiments were done in 1708 by Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus. After his death that October, Johann Friedrich Böttger continued von Tschirnhaus's ...
, and one of the world's major collections of 18th-century
Sèvres porcelain. It includes 137 vases, 80 tea wares, 67 useful wares, 3 biscuit figures and 130 plaques (mostly on furniture), and was acquired by the Marquesses of Hertford and Sir Richard Wallace between c. 1802–75.
File:The Wallace Collection - Vase 'pot pourri à vaisseau' (of the first size), c. 1761.jpg, Sèvres pot-pourri vase in the shape of a ship, one of the rarest, largest and most elaborate vases ever produced by Sèvres
File:Courtois, Martial - Apollo and the Muses - 16th century.jpg, Renaissance Limoges
Limoges ( , , ; , locally ) is a city and Communes of France, commune, and the prefecture of the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, department in west-central France. It was the administrative capital of the former Limousin region. Situated o ...
enamel dish by Martial Courtois
File:The Wallace Collection - Sevres, two 'Seaux 'à glace' and a 'Seaux 'à bouteille', 1778-79 for Catherine II of Russia.jpg, Sèvres – Three rare pieces from the celebrated collection of Catherine the Great
Catherine II. (born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; 2 May 172917 November 1796), most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter I ...
, Empress of Russia
Arms and armour
File:Visored Bascinet.jpg, alt=A medieval helmet with a pointed nose and narrow eye slits., Visored Bascinet
The bascinet – also bassinet, basinet, or bazineto – was a Medieval European open-faced combat helmet. It evolved from a type of iron or steel Cervelliere, skullcap, but had a more pointed apex to the skull, and it extended downwards at ...
, probably French, c. 1390-1410
File:Armour for Man and Horse.jpg, alt=A horse mounted knight with right hand and sword raised., Armour for Man and Horse, Landshut, c. 1480
File:Wallace Sallet 2 - Wallace Collection A81.jpg, Sallet, Unknown Artist / Maker Germany Date: c. 1490
File:Painted Sallet.jpg, alt=A painted knight's helmet depicting an intimidating mythical beast with large fangs., Painted Sallet
The sallet (also called ''celata'', ''salade'' and ''schaller'') was a combat helmet that replaced the bascinet in Italy, western and northern Europe and Hungary during the mid-15th century. In Italy, France and England the armet helmet was also ...
depicting a mythical beast, c. 1500
File:Sallet 1 - Wallace Collection A85.jpg, Sallet, Unknown Artist / Maker Germany Date: c. 1510
File:Close-helmet - Wallace Collection A158.jpg, Close-helmet, Unknown Artist / Maker Nuremberg, Germany Date: c. 1530
File:Wallace armor 1.jpg, alt=Shoulders and head of a heavily fluted suit of armour., Fluted Armour in the Maximilian Style, c. 1612 and 19th century
File:17th century Venetian ceremonial cannon.jpg, 17th century Venetian ceremonial cannon
Furniture
The Wallace Collection holds one of the most important collections of French furniture in the UK, and ranks alongside the
Musée du Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...
, the
Royal Collection
The Royal Collection of the British royal family is the largest private art collection in the world.
Spread among 13 occupied and historic List of British royal residences, royal residences in the United Kingdom, the collection is owned by King ...
,
Waddesdon Manor
Waddesdon Manor is a English country house, country house in the village of Waddesdon, in Buckinghamshire, England. Owned by the National Trust and managed by the Rothschild Foundation, it is one of the National Trust's most visited properties, ...
, the collections of the
Duke of Buccleuch
Duke of Buccleuch ( ), formerly also spelt Duke of Buccleugh, is a title in the Peerage of Scotland created twice on 20 April 1663, first for James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, and second ''suo jure'' for his wife Anne Scott, 4th Countess of ...
, the
Getty Museum
The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California, United States, housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa. It is operated by the J. Paul Getty Trust, the world's wealthies ...
and the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...
as one of the greatest and most celebrated in the world.
[''The Burlington Magazine'', Vol. 139, No. 1136 (Nov., 1997), pp. 792–794] Totalling more than five hundred pieces, the collection consists largely of 18th-century French furniture but also includes some significant pieces of 19th-century French furniture, as well as interesting Italian furniture and a few English and German pieces. The collection ranges from cabinet furniture, much of which is
veneered with brass and turtleshell
marquetry
Marquetry (also spelled as marqueterie; from the French ''marqueter'', to variegate) is the art and craft of applying pieces of wood veneer, veneer to a structure to form decorative patterns or designs. The technique may be applied to case furn ...
(commonly known as
"Boulle" marquetry) or with wood marquetry, to seat furniture, clocks and barometers,
gilt-bronze
Ormolu (; ) is the gilding technique of applying finely ground, high-carat gold– mercury amalgam to an object of bronze, and objects finished in this way. The mercury is driven off in a kiln, leaving behind a gold coating. The French refer to ...
items including mounted porcelain and hardstones, mantelpieces, mirrors, boxes and pedestals. One highlight is the major collection of furniture attributed to
André-Charles Boulle
André-Charles Boulle (11 November 164229 February 1732), ''le joailler du meuble'' (the "furniture jeweller"), became the most famous French Cabinet making, cabinetmaker and the preeminent artist in the field of marquetry, also known as "inlay". ...
(1642–1732).
''
Joseph Baumhauer
Joseph Baumhauer (died 22 March 1772) was a prominent Parisian ''ébéniste
An ''ébéniste'' () is a cabinet-maker, particularly one who works in ebony. The term is a loanword from French and translates to "ebonist".
Etymology and ambiguities ...
'' – 1 item:
:*Bas d'armoire, c. 1765–1770
''
André-Charles Boulle
André-Charles Boulle (11 November 164229 February 1732), ''le joailler du meuble'' (the "furniture jeweller"), became the most famous French Cabinet making, cabinetmaker and the preeminent artist in the field of marquetry, also known as "inlay". ...
'' – 22 items:
:*Armoire, c. 1695;
:*Armoire, c. 1700;
:*Armoire, c. 1700;
:*Armoire, c. 1715;
:*Bureau plat, c. 1700–1710;
:*Cabinet avec son pied, c. 1667;
:*Cartonnier et pendule, c. 1715;
:*Commode, c. 1710;
:*Paire de grande table, c. 1705;
:*Mantle clock, c. 1715;
:*Mantle clock, c. 1726;
:*Médaillier, c. 1710–1720;
:*Miroir de toilette, c. 1713, (delivered to the Duchesse de Berry);
:*Paire de coffre de toilette, c. 1700;
:*Paire de torchéres, c. 1700–1710;
:*Pendule et gaine, c. 1712–1720;
:*Pendule et gaine, c. 1720–1725;
:*Table à mettre dans un trumeau, c. 1705;
''
Martin Carlin'' – 4 items:
:*Paire de Encoignures, c. 1772;
:*Secrétaire à abattant, c. 1775;
:*Table en secrétaire, c. 1783;
''
Adrien Delorme Adrien Faizelot-Delorme (master in 1748 – after 1783) was a well-known cabinetmaker (''ébéniste'') working in Paris, the most prominent in a family of ''ébénistes''
Becoming Master craftsman, master 22 June 1748, he set up in the rue du T ...
'' – 2 items:
:*Paire de bibliothèque basse
''
Étienne Doirat
Étienne Doirat (c. 1675-1732) was a French furniture designer.
Early life
Étienne Doirat was born circa 1675. His family had been ébénistes in Paris since the early 1600s.
Career
Doirat designed " commodes, armoires, corner cupboards, and t ...
'' – 1 item:
:*Commode, c. 1720;
''Étienne Levasseur'' – 5 items;
:*Grande Bibliothèque, c. 1775;
:*Paire de bibliothèque basse, c. 1775
:*Paire de meubles à hauteur de'appui, c. 1775
''Alexandre-Jean Oppenord'' – 3 items:
:*Bureau plat, 1710;
:*Commode, c. 1695;
:*Écritoire, c. 1710;
''
Jean Henri Riesener'' – 10 items:
:*Commode, delivered to Marie-Antoinette's ''cabinet intérieur de la reine'' at Versailles, c. 1780;
:*Commode, delivered to Marie-Antoinette for Chateau de Marly, c. 1782;
:*Encoignure, delivered to Marie-Antoinette's ''cabinet intérieur'' at Versailles, c. 1783;
:*Secrétaire à abattant, delivered to Marie-Antoinette's ''cabinet intérieur'' at Versailles, c. 1783;
:*Secrétaire à abattant, delivered to Marie-Antoinette's ''Petit Triannon'' at Versailles, c. 1783;
:*Secrétaire à abattant, delivered to Marie-Antoinette's ''cabinet intérieur'' at Versailles, c. 1780;
:*Bureau à cylindre, delivered to the comte d'Orsay for the Hôtel d'Orsay, c. 1774;
:*Bureau à cylindre, c. 1785;
:*Secrétaire à abattant, c. 1780–1784;
:*Table de toilette, c. 1780–1784;
''Bernard I Van Risen Burgh'' – 1 item:
:*Bureau plat, c. 1719
''Nicolas Sageot'' – 2 items:
:*Commode, c.1700;
:*Commode, c.1710;
''
Adam Weisweiler'' – 4 items:
:*Paire de meubles à hauteur de'appui, c. 1780
:*Paire de meubles à hauteur de'appui, c. 1785–1790
File:The Wallace Collection - King Louis XV's commode for Versailles by Gaudreaus.jpg, Antoine Gaudreau
Antoine-Robert Gaudreau ( – 6 May 1746) was a Parisian ''ébéniste'' who was appointed ''Ébéniste du Roi'' and was the principal supplier of furniture for the royal châteaux during the early years of Louis XV of France, Louis XV's reign. He ...
– This highly-important commode, with gilt-bronze mounts by Jacques Caffieri
Jacques Caffieri (25 August 1678, Paris – 25 November 1755, Paris) was a French sculptor, working for the most part in bronze.
Life
Jacques Caffiéri was the fifth son of Philippe Caffieri (1634-1716), the founder of this family of artists. ...
, was delivered in April 1739 for King Louis XV's Bedchamber at the Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of ÃŽle-de-France, ÃŽle-de-France region in Franc ...
.
File:The Wallace Collection - Chandelier by Caffiéri, 1751.jpg, This magnificent twelve-light chandelier was made by Jacques Caffiéri in 1751. It was given by Louis XV to his eldest daughter, Louise-Elisabeth, Duchess of Parma, during one of her visits to Paris in the 1750s.
File:Example of Boulle Marquetry from the Wallace Collection in London 1.jpg, Example of Boulle
Boulle is a French surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Jean Boulle, the father of André Charles Boulle, a cabinetmaker to the King of France
* André Charles Boulle (1642–1732), French cabinetmaker to the Sun King
* Étienne- ...
marquetry made from brass inlaid with tortoiseshell
Transport connections
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
*
Explore by GalleryWallace Collection YouTube channel
{{authority control
1900 establishments in England
Armour collections
Art collections in the United Kingdom
Art museums and galleries established in 1900
Biographical museums in London
Charities based in London
Former private collections in the United Kingdom
Houses in the City of Westminster
Museums in the City of Westminster
Museums sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Non-departmental public bodies of the United Kingdom government
Order of Arts and Letters of Spain recipients
Portman estate
Townhouses in the United Kingdom